


Afterlife

by CursedAesahaettr



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game), inFAMOUS (Video Games), inFAMOUS: Second Son
Genre: AU where Conduits weren't hunted down in the Old World like in the inFamous games, Aloy teaches the trio about the new world while the trio teaches her about the old world, Multi, except the worlds kind of intersect, inFamous crew in the world of Horizon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:42:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 23,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21890653
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CursedAesahaettr/pseuds/CursedAesahaettr
Summary: A rumor of an impenetrable ruin sends Aloy east of the Nora Sacred Lands, where she stumbles upon the last resting place of the members of Project Zero Dawn, Elysium. What she finds defies expectations: three living Old Ones, plucked from the earliest days of the facility's operation. Now, rather than scavenge for artifacts and datapoints, Aloy has to find a place for them in the new world. She'll find there is much to show them about the way the world has changed, and just a much they can show her about the time they came from and more.
Relationships: Delsin Rowe/Eugene Sims/Abigail "Fetch" Walker
Comments: 14
Kudos: 43





	1. Finding Elysium

**Author's Note:**

> This was a long time coming. So long that I can't really remember what sparked this idea, other than me really wanting to explore Eugene and Aloy meeting and becoming friends. Unfortunately there isn't too much of Delsin, Eugene, & Fetch in this first chapter but that'll change, don't worry. Hope you enjoy!

Aloy stands before the great metal doorway to a ruin from the Metal World, awaiting the wide beam of red light that will permit her entrance to the facility. Given her track record with incomplete registries and stuck gears she fully expects some kind of deterrent, but when the light vanishes and the familiar robotic voice chimes through the speakers the door folds in on itself with ease. 

_Genetic profile confirmed. Entry authorized. Greetings, Dr. Sobeck and guest. Welcome to Elysium. Please proceed to an open terminal for processing._

At her side Gildun is in awe, with his jaw on the floor and eyes as wide as a Watcher’s. He isn’t alone in that regard. When she’d heard a rumor about a ruin of the Old Ones that had been uncovered in the mountains east of the Sacred Lands her interest was piqued at once, particularly at the mention of every delver’s inability to enter inside. Where they found only unyielding metal that no spear or cannon could break through, she had hope her overrides could bypass the systems. Aloy hadn’t even entertained the thought that the ruin would require a genetic lock like the ones at FAS or ELEUTHEIA-9. She certainly could never have imagined it would house Elysium, the last haven for the Old Ones.

A rough, gloved hand on her shoulder snaps her out of her reverie. “You okay, Aloy? That light didn’t hurt you or anything did it?”

“No, I… I’m fine.” She takes a moment to shake out her arms, both to warm up her body and ground her back in the moment. “The door won’t stay open forever. Let’s get inside before we freeze to death.”

Gildun nods, falling in behind her when she starts for the doorway. “You’ll hear no arguments there. It’s gotta be one of the saddest ways to go I know of. There was a fellow I knew back in the Claim, he went and trekked all the way to the Cut about a year before you and me first met, wanted to try and set up a trade network. He was in over his head, we all knew it, but of course we didn’t think a thing of it while he was away until he stopped sending letters back home. I volunteered to go with some of his family to look for him ‘cause they needed the support. Found him cornered in a ravine, blue as the ice. Hadn’t even warmed up enough to start rotting. I can’t imagine what that felt like, shivering so hard and you can’t even feel your-”

“ _Gildun_.” Aloy stops to give him a pointed stare. “I get your point. Remember what I told you back at the camp?”

He has the presence of mind to look chastised, sheepishly scratching the back of his neck. “Yeah I remember. ‘Keep it short, keep it simple.’ Sorry about that. It’s hard not to get carried away, and it gets worse when I’m excited.”

“I know. Somehow we’ll get through this.” Whether they will without her clawing her ears off is yet to be seen.

The entrance hall they find themselves in is enormous, a circular room half as wide as the Sun Ring at Sunfall. Computer pedestals stand in semi-circles to either side, with the only other exit on the far end of the room, its door jammed so that it sits ajar. Flickering holograms provide the only light besides the dusky sky behind them, and that is soon after eclipsed by the door sealing itself once more. Ordinarily Aloy isn’t bothered by the darkness since she has her Focus to scan her surroundings, but she recognizes that Gildun will want more light to see by and digs out a spare torch from her bag. “Here. I’m going ahead to check out some of these machines.”

A prompt on the nearest terminal’s screen bids that she connect her Focus to the system. Unfortunately, a quick scan of the computer reveals only a mass of corrupted text. The best she can make out is that these terminals would be where the occupants were assigned their new homes inside the facility, and some mention of a key or access code to enter their rooms. Would she be able to access them? Hers and Elisabet’s status as Alpha Prime had already afforded her a great deal of accessibility so far, but these would have been private spaces. 

There also would have been a room made for Elisabet, a thought that comes unbidden, and for the rest of the Alphas as well. Untouched, never to be used by their intended occupants. It sends a shiver down her spine, and Aloy turns away to make for the far door.

“I’m curious about something.” Gildun says, jogging to catch up with her. “That door back there seemed to know you somehow. I mean, obviously not very well, since it didn’t even get your name right. Think it was a malfunction?”

She shakes her head. “Not a malfunction, but it’s a long story.”

“We’ve got awhile in here, and you know I like long stories.”

“I sure do.” Aloy mutters under her breath. Squeezing through the doorway, they’re met with a split in the path. A flickering holo-sign only offers a partial directory, with the arrow pointed left denoting rooms 150-199, the direction of the elevators that are surely inoperable, and something called a “cafeteria”. She has some idea of what it is, having seen the word in other datapoints with some confusing context, but it isn’t likely to hold any answers to her increasing number of questions so she pays it no mind. 

She motions for the torch which Gildun passes to her. For now, she’s decided, they’ll start down the left path and circle back later for the other. “Alright, I’ll tell you. But I don’t want to hear any extra questions about it, alright?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good.” They pass a number of sealed rooms, most of which are adorned by numbers and simple names. D. O’Malley. J. Winston. N. Romero. One or two have what look like actual decorations, writings painted onto the metal doors and trinkets on the windowsills that would have any merchant seeing shards abound. It doesn’t occur to her until there’s been a few minutes of silence between them that she has no clue how to go about explaining the situation to Gildun. It isn’t that she doesn’t trust him - she would never have considered letting him tag along if she didn’t think he was trustworthy - but the full story of her link to the late Elisabet Sobeck is probably more complex than he’d be able to handle. “Right, so… The door recognized me. Or actually it, uh. It recognized my Focus.” The lie sounds blatant to her ears but how could Gildun be any the wiser? “The profile that it mentioned? That’s the identification set up on it, kind of like how a hunter will put special markings or charms on their favorite bow and spear. It marks those weapons as theirs. And my Focus belonged to an Old One named Elisabet Sobeck, who was a very important figure when she was alive. It turns out she had access to a lot of old ruins before she died, and since I have her Focus now I do, too. I’ll be honest, though. I really wasn’t expecting to run into another one of those doors here.” 

“So only certain people had access to this place, and that special door was for security. Guess that means we’re gonna find a treasure trove of artifacts they wanted to protect.” 

Aloy tries to smile but the effort is half-hearted. Before, that had been the goal; at least as far as Gildun’s incentive went. And she hadn’t minded when they both thought the ruin was some relatively insignificant place where the items they’d find would have been left over from people Aloy would never know. But Elysium was a part of Project Zero Dawn. The Alphas had never arrived, caught up in the final stages of finishing GAIA’s programming, but the project’s Betas and Gammas had been evacuated just in time to be sealed away from the Faro Swarm. They and their immediate families had lived and died here, waiting out the end of the world together. A pit opens up in her stomach just considering disturbing their belongings. 

“We’ll see.” 

They wander for some time before deciding to open one of the rooms. Each door has a touchpad that must be how the residents would have unlocked the doors, and Aloy decides to give it a try. As expected it fails to do anything. Even when Aloy scans the pad and the door for a way in it sits resolutely closed. Gildun offers to try breaking the window, an idea Aloy quickly shoots down since she’d rather not damage anything in here more than it already is. 

The only open doors they find on the first level are those to the elevator shafts - unworking - and those leading to the cafeteria. Metal tables and chairs dot the main room, and beyond it a more compact area is filled with mysterious contraptions. With how many seats there are the room must have been lively at its fullest, but now it sits cold and empty. Gildun at least is happy with the find. He doesn’t know what the purpose is for the small, metal, quadruple pointed… Something-or-others he finds tucked in one corner, but he knows they’ll be worth good shards. It helps that they seem to belong to a set with similarly fashioned metal ladles and knives. 

Once they’ve thoroughly scoped out the cafeteria the two make their way back to where they began to rest and eat a quick meal. Her Focus lets her know that it’s a bit past midday, leaving plenty of time to make good on their plan to sweep the other wing of the building. The only problem, she notes while chewing on a strip of jerky, is that they’ll have only explored the first level. According to the map in one of the stairwells nearby there are still four more levels below this one. Two more of which seem to be residential areas and two meant for recreation or for staff use only. Elysium was built to last; so far there have been almost no caved in rooms or otherwise inaccessible sectors, aside from the room doors they can’t open. For once the whole of a ruin seems to be available to her, but that means it’ll take twice as long to explore every nook and cranny. 

Setting her frustration aside, Aloy lets Gildun take the lead down the right path once they finish eating. She almost regrets it with the way he charges ahead with reckless abandon. But as long as he doesn’t get himself stuck somewhere again she figures he’ll probably be fine. 

The right wing of the floor holds just as many living quarters as the left, but where the cafeteria sat on the other end of the facility this section has something wildly different: an open atrium. Not quite so open as to reach the outside as Aloy finds when she steps inside, greeted by the sight of a high ceiling with display panels half-working to show a facsimile of the sky. The room is overgrown. Vines clinging to the walls, grass and moss steadily overtaking the few benches in the room. They almost cover up an old device left unattended on one of the benches, but she picks off the growth to scan it.

It’s an audio recording. Bhavana Rao, December 29th, 2072. It starts with a woman’s voice, sweet and quiet, and gradually includes two other voices of young children. 

_“Yes darlings, I see you. Lalita, don’t be so rough with your brother!”_

_“I’m not being rough!”_

_“Yes you are!”_

_“Come here you two, before you hurt yourselves. Yes, that’s it. Now see? You’re lucky this will only require a bandage. Hold still, Deepak.”_

_“Mama, why is there no snow today? It’s after Christmas.”_

_“I’ve told you, it won’t snow inside of here.”_

_“But how are we going to make snowmen?”_

_“We aren’t. Oh, don’t be sad. I know you would like to, but sometimes we can’t have what we want. How about this instead, if you behave I’ll see if Mr. Hartley has some extra ice cream for you two?”_

The recording cuts off with Deepak and Lalita happily shouting. Aloy peers around the room, trying to imagine the mother and her children playing here in the artificial wilderness. Would it have looked the same as the forests in the Sacred Lands? 

“Hey, look over here.” Gildun’s voice calls from a few feet away. Below the thick brush stone peeks out at his feet, rough like sandstone but gray as the mountain Elysium slumbers in. And there covering the sliver of rock is a splash of color. Simple drawings of animals and people permanently stained onto its surface. “Reminds one of the Banuk, doesn’t it? Maybe lacks the artistry but it’s still better than anything I could make. Wonder how long it’s been sitting here.”

Aloy hums softly, running a hand gingerly over the drawings. “Almost a thousand years. I’ve heard of this place’s existence from what I’ve found in other ruins. The people that lived here… They were the last Old Ones alive.”

His head snaps up to look at her, gaping. “ _Really_ now? The very last. Sounds… That sounds lonely.”

She nods, chews on her lip for a moment, then pushes herself back to her feet. “Let’s keep looking around. I want to find a particular doorway that was on the map. If I can get it open we can learn a lot more about this place. And about these people.”

“Lead the way.”

The rest of the wing is filled with bunk doors, but down a side hall Aloy finds what she was searching for. While not nearly as physically imposing as the genetically locked entrance into Elysium, this door similarly scans her to confirm her Alpha status before opening to reveal an elevator. Worry flickers in her mind. If it won’t operate she’ll need to find another way down into the facility, and there’s no guarantee one exists. Giving it the benefit of the doubt, she ushers Gildun inside with her and presses the button for the next floor down. A tense moment passes where she’s certain the elevator is broken, but just as she’s given up hope the door shuts tight and the platform shudders before lowering itself.

“A-Aloy are you sure this is safe?” Gildun scrambles to grab onto the wall. 

Her gaze doesn’t stray from the holo-display before them, watching it tick from the ground floor to sub-level one. “Yeah, totally. Not a doubt in my mind. I ride these things in Cauldrons all the time.” She won’t mention that the Cauldrons are hundreds of years newer than this machine. “Haven’t you ever ridden the lifts in Meridian?”

“I’ve heard about them, sure, but I’ve never had the, uh… The pleasure of visiting.”

Luckily the elevator halts a few seconds later, opening out into an open two-level room. A balcony loops around the upper floor, with several office spaces all around and below them. At the center of the room sits a large holo-projector similar to the ones at the Grave Hoard and GAIA Prime, and Aloy has an instant desire to turn it on and learn even more secrets of the past. _All in due time_ , she assures herself. Instead, she works her way around the ring of offices searching for datapoints and anything that might illuminate where the project’s Betas lived in the facility, and maybe how to gain access to those spaces. 

Gildun is the one to suggest splitting up to cover more ground. Aloy shows him what types of machines might leave behind datapoints so he can make a note of them for her, and she leaves him on the upper level to sweep through the lower. 

From what she can gather just at a glance this room would have been a command center. Scattered datapoints piece together an image of a busy council doing its best to maintain peace until the end of their days, and to prevent any avoidable loss of life. But like all things the end of humanity hadn’t gone smoothly. An incomplete registry of a lower residential level shows evidence that a small number of occupants had been lost to unfortunate circumstances. The official records state them as having died of sudden natural causes, but a log from one of the employees says otherwise. 

_“Had a team head down and lock up one of the VR centers. No one but Ms. Soledad has access, and I doubt she’ll be going back any time soon. They tried_ everything _humanly possible. It’s the second craziest thing I think I’ve ever heard, beaten only by the damn Swarm. One minute they’re there in the server, the next the entire system threatens to collapse on itself. Guess it could be worse. They could’ve had their brains fried, turned into legally dead husks. Heard of fringe cases like that. But this… There aren’t even bodies to cremate.”_

There are a handful of records detailing the loss of other residents through the years, accidents brought on by oversight or mechanical failures. But of the nearly two thousand residents sealed away inside Elysium it seems that the grand majority were able to live out their lives peacefully, just as Elisabet had intended. 

They rest interred in a room on the lowest level labeled the Crematorium, but Aloy isn’t eager to disturb the dead. 

She’d finished searching one of the far offices when the name on a new datapoint makes her pause. M. Shen. It couldn’t be Margo, could it? The Alphas never set foot in Elysium, but maybe someone inside had received a message from her before the Alphas were sealed away in Gaia Prime. But no, the date on the log falls just after that fateful day. After Ted had murdered them.

_February 28th, 2066_

_I know you won’t get these messages but I’ll keep making them. Pops doesn’t say it but I’ve caught him leaving you voicemails when he thinks I’m not paying attention. The counsellor says that it’s normal behavior. Says some people grieving a loved one like to keep up the pretense of communication, to get out all those things they never got to say. It’s weird though, ‘cuz I know you’re still out there working on GAIA and her little helpers. Just cooped up in the wrong place, is all._

_Gia got her first tooth a week ago, and she’s gotten so big since we got brought in for the project. Really wish you could see her. She’ll be running around with a wrench in her hands before we know it. I’ll have to tell her all about her brilliant aunty that helped save the world._

_We all miss you like hell, Margie. Wish I’d given you one last hug or something. I think the last time I saw you, it would’ve been that night I needed a break. Cap was working us to the bone, and of course it was for good reason but I had to step away for a few. I felt bad bugging you. You had a whole branch you were overseeing and here comes your big brother groaning about long hours. But you didn’t complain. Not sincerely anyway. You once told me you were worried about being picked as an Alpha, but right then? While you were needling me about what a wreck I was all while working on compiling a whole lot of complex stuff for HEPHAESTUS? I already knew you were capable, but I got to see it in action._

_You always had so much more patience than me. I bet you’re taking the long wait a lot easier than I am. I hope so. You deserve some peace after everything you’ve worked on._

_I’m proud of you,_

_Milo_

Legs suddenly weak, Aloy has to find a place to sit. Margo’s brother. Her whole family had been here, and they had no idea what had happened to her. Had they spent the rest of their lives thinking she was still around, miles away in a different shelter? Maybe it was for the better. They wouldn’t have had to carry that kind of heartbreak with them.

Footsteps at the door pull her out of her thoughts. Gildun takes one look at her and frowns. “You look like you faced down a Thunderjaw empty-handed. Although in your case I wager that would end much differently than for most people.”

A weak smile makes its way onto her face and she rises to step back out into the open room. “I’ll be okay. Find anything that looked useful?”

“Yeah, about a handful of those devices, but there’s probably more I missed.”

“That’s okay. It looks like that door over there leads out into more residential space.” Aloy motions to the farthest doorway in the main room. “I’ll head up and inspect what you found. In the meantime, why don’t you see if there’s a good place to set up camp for the night?” 

“Can do.” Gildun gives her a quick salute and departs. 

Upstairs Aloy finds more of the same kinds of datapoints awaiting her. Official staff records and a few informal notes from members talking about the daily goings-on of Elysium. There’s even one from a woman named Soledad, who she’d seen mentioned before in several datapoints and seemed to be the head of the facility. But the contents of her files don’t provide any more insight than the others despite Soledad’s rank, so she gives the room one last look-through before heading down to meet with Gildun. 

The hallway she exits into stretches out in either direction like the one they’d entered the command center from a couple of levels up, but despite the lack of visible signs as to where Gildun had gone she knows by the echo of his singing to head to the right. To her surprise one of the residential doors sits open and inside Gildun squats beside a weak fire, coaxing it to life. 

Aloy stands in the doorframe with her arms crossed. “I know that song.”

_“Aloy!”_ He falls back on his rump and throws his hands out to catch himself. “Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“I wasn’t sneaking, you were drowning out all the sound with your singing.” She crosses the room, offering him a hand which he takes to sit back up. “I’ll have to have a word with Erend. He told me he came up with that song himself. Unless you two have met?”

Gildun shakes his head. “Don’t think I know any Erends. But it doesn’t surprise me. From the Ash is an old folk song, but _everybody_ has their own version of the lyrics. He probably just meant he came up with the version you heard.”

“Why make up a new version when there are already perfectly good lyrics, though?” She turns her attention to the pitiful fire Gildun had going, which threatens to fizzle out at any moment. A few careful drops of blaze fixes that problem in short order and Aloy settles back onto the bedroll laid out for her. 

“Oh, all sorts of reasons. For the fun of it, mostly. You say you’ve heard it before, so you know it’s an infectious little melody, right?”

She nods, amused by the sudden gleam in his eyes. 

“Exactly. When I was a kid we used to sit around and take turns making up one line at a time with the craziest suggestions and let me tell you it sounded _ridiculous_. But it was entertaining! Sometimes a family will have their own version, talking themselves up or extolling the deeds of one ancestor or another. And if your version gets pretty popular then that’s one more way to leave your mark on the world, I say. Every Oseram knows From the Ash by heart, but every Oseram sings it a little different.” 

Aloy smiles to herself. Such a stark contrast between the Oseram and the other tribes around them. She can’t speak much for the Nora, having spent little time as a part of the community, but what music she’d heard while in the Embrace always seemed to revolve around All-Mother, and never strayed from the established verses. The Carja were similar, and even when she heard tunes meant for merriment rather than worship they all stuck to the original formula. Only from members of the Banuk had she noticed any particular differences in renditions, but she’d thought it nothing more than an anomaly. It never occurred to her that so many variations of one song could exist. She isn’t an Oseram but the temptation to make up her own lyrics lingers at the periphery of her mind. 

Almost as if he’s read her thoughts, Gildun motions to her. “Why don’t you give it a shot?”

“Me? Ha, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’m not much of a poet.”

“And you think I am?” She chuckles at that admission but he doesn’t seem to mind. “Trust me, anyone can do it. The sillier the better.”

Aloy shakes her head, running a hand through the hair at the base of her neck. “I’m not so sure. I wouldn’t even know where to start-”

Without warning Aloy’s Focus activates, flooding her vision with red text and her ear with a robotic voice.

_Attention Elysium Personnel: Malfunction detected in Sub-Level 4 Sector 138. A power surge of internal origin has occurred which could lead to the destabilization of the facility. Beta-level manual override necessary. Estimated time before system overload: fifteen minutes._

“Aloy? Aloy what’s wrong?”

A sensation like lightning streaks down her spine and before she knows it Aloy’s on her feet. “No time to explain. Put out the fire and meet me in the command center.”

To his credit Gildun starts dousing the flames with chillwater without hesitation. “The big room we were just in?”

“That’s the one!” Aloy calls from the doorway, sprinting away without wasting another second. Not since her race up to the Alight to face down HADES a year before has she pushed her body to move so quickly. 

Where the hall outside the command center is quiet as a mouse the sounds of chaos flood her the moment she opens the door again. A steady siren rings on around her and every holo-display shines bright red. At the center of the room the projector shows an enlarged, three-dimensional map of the facility with a red ring surrounding one of the rooms on the fourth level. Aloy steps up to the nearest terminal and scans it, copying the map to her Focus. “Come on, gonna need you to tell me what to do here!”

_Alpha-level clearance detected. Dr. Sobeck, please proceed to Sub-Level 4 Sector 138. Further instructions will be provided upon arrival. In the event that a connection cannot be established, they are being uploaded to your Focus. Estimated time before system overload: thirteen minutes._

“Okay, yeah.” Jogging in place, Aloy hesitates just a moment more to memorize the map in front of her, which lights up with a suggested path to her destination. “How handy…” Then she’s back out of the door in a flash. At some point she almost runs into a bewildered Gildun on her way down. She takes the steps by twos and has to push off the wall opposite the stairwell to keep up her momentum going around a corner. Room 136 had seemed so far away on the map but it takes her just a minute more of sprinting to reach it, and the door opens without a hitch. 

Inside the room is spacious. Near to the size of Olin’s apartment - or any of the living quarters here in Elysium, now that she thinks of it - but mostly empty. The far wall is lined to the brim with computers but the rest of the room is unadorned. A few seats in one corner, but little else. Aloy crosses the space and instinctually scans the wall, hoping to hear Elysium’s robotic guide once more. But the voice she hears instead is different; weaker and corrupted like a broken audio file and pleading. Human.

_Please… Some-o-o-one… Can’t… Hold on..._

Horror grips her. If not for the more familiar intrusion of the facility’s guide, this time over the speaker system, Aloy would have remained frozen in place.

_Dr. Sobeck, please proceed to the nearest terminal._

Shaking her head to clear it, Aloy does as she’s told and places her hand against the warm surface of the terminal. The wall in front of her hums faintly, sparks emitting from a screen a few inches away. “Okay. Now what?”

_Initiating Alpha-level override. Please standby._

“Kinda what I’m already doing.” A crackle of static bursts from the far end of the wall, loud and bright enough to make her take a step back. Aloy clenches her fists at her side. Whatever this override is needs to work. She can’t lose Elysium now after all this time. There’s still so much to discover inside.

_Anomaly detected. An internal malfunction of the Virtual Reality Holospace appears to be the cause of the power surge. Alpha-level override insufficient. Estimated time before system overload: nine minutes._

A pit opens up in her stomach. _“What?”_ Aloy starts to pace the length of the room, trying to grasp at anything she might have learned that could help. How could Elisabet’s Alpha-level clearance not be enough? Or was it simply that the system itself was too strained from the surge to accomplish the task? 

She pauses. If they need an override, she has more than a few ways to do so. 

Aloy reaches behind her to hold out her spear. The sleek metal of its design and the Corrupter’s override module attached to one end gleam in the flickering light, like it belongs to the Old World like Elysium does. It had never let her down thus far. One of very few things she would ever be grateful to Ted Faro for. “What if I used this while you tried the override? Maybe it can give it the boost it needs.”

There’s a tense moment, drawn out while, she assumes, the system assesses the possibility. Thudding footsteps sound behind her but they register on a subconscious level. All of Aloy’s focus is on averting this crisis.

_There is an eighty-seven percent chance of success with this course of action. The system will then reboot in order to remove the anomaly. Dr. Sobeck, do you wish to proceed with the manual override?_

“Yes! Get on with it!” 

“Aloy, _what_ is going on?” Gildun comes up beside her. She glances up and sees worry and determination warring in his expression. “Anything I can help with?”

The humming that was faint grows louder, though not quite to the point of needing to shout over it. “I don’t know, Gildun. Make sure the door stays open? If this doesn’t work it might seal us inside here.”

Worry makes way for panic, but Gildun gives a firm nod. “I can do that.”

Aloy turns back to the wall of computers to start looking for a circular port. What she finds isn’t an ideal fit, but it takes the end of her spear after some forceful persuasion. 

_Initiating Alpha-level override. Please standby._

“Don’t give up on me just yet.” She grits her teeth against the order. Her Focus lights up to track the progress of the override. Slower than any time she’s used it before, but progress is progress. A flicker of blue light dances just beyond her vision. Given how much light and static surrounds her it shouldn’t register as anything out of the ordinary, except she swears she can make out a shape of some kind and the strange voice returns. 

_A-A-Almost..._

A burst of electricity comes from overhead, raining sparks around the room, but Aloy refuses to let it distract her. Only a sliver of orange remains in the ring of light on her spear. In the same instance that blue engulfs it the lights in the room vanish. Aloy stumbles back and she can hear Gildun cry out in surprise behind her. A dim light remains on the screen, wavering and far from enough to see by. Then the room is lit again without warning, the soft hum of the machines resumes, and the sparks cease. Like nothing had ever gone wrong. The adrenaline in her system begs to differ.

Gildun steps up beside her looking like a lost child. He surveys the wall of computers, hands on his hips, before turning his gaze on her. “Well… Did we do it?”

Aloy, breathless, manages a weak laugh. “I think so. Hey Elysium, did we solve the problem?”

_Affirmative, Dr. Sobeck. The anomaly has been purged from the facility’s systems._

“Good, good.” She wipes a bead of sweat from her brow. And here she’d been thinking this delve would be too easy. 

Gildun turns to go and starts to herd her towards the door, but Aloy stops him. After all the noisy chaos in the wake of the power surge the room grew silent. All she could hear were her own labored breaths, Gildun’s footsteps, and the hum of the machines. The same hum that grows steadily louder as she waits to listen for it. 

Curiosity gets the better of her and Aloy steps back over to the wall of computers. Gildun pipes up, “Wha- Aloy, what are you doing?”

She listens in and realizes the hum is robotic in nature, like the sound of a Watcher alerting its companions, but a continuous note. When she rests her hand on the terminal the surface is still warm and the hum crescendos into a disconcerting, mechanical screeching. Bright light floods her vision. 

_“Aloy!”_

Aloy reels back. The flash of light was brief but blinding, making her eyes sting. “Damn it!” She covers them with her hands and waits until the light peeking through her eyelids becomes more tolerable. “I’m okay, I’m… I’m not hurt… You okay Gildun? It didn’t start sparking again did it?”

Silence.

“Gildun?” Dropping her hands to her side, Aloy blinks a few times before Gildun’s large frame comes into focus. He stands on both feet seemingly unharmed, but his shell-shocked expression isn’t aimed at her like she expects. She follows his gaze down to the floor, and what she sees makes her body go numb.

Three people sit huddled together, a woman and two men. One of the men, with his sandy-haired head drooped low, has his arms around the other two, cradling them against his chest. If the trio’s sudden, inexplicable appearance in the room wasn’t frightening enough, they wear a style of clothing Aloy has only seen in holograms and on long-dead corpses.

She glances up at Gildun and finds her own surprise reflected back at her. “Gildun, where did they come from?”

“They just- They appeared there. From the light, almost like…” He frowns. “This’ll sound ridiculous, but if I didn’t know better I’d say like they were _made_ of light. You don’t think they’re… You know…”

Aloy doesn’t get a chance to ask for clarification. The sandy-haired stranger shifts with a groan and Aloy kneels down beside him, tilting his head up. Thin spectacles rest off-kilter on his face, and behind them the skin under his eyes is sunken. His complexion is pale and he looks half-starved. Aloy would guess he’s only a few years older than her. 

“Hey, can you hear me?” She tries to coerce his body into a proper sitting position but he holds tight to his companions that have yet to wake. “I want to help you, and I need to know if you can hear what I’m saying.”

It takes visible effort but he peels open his eyes, bleary and unfocused for several seconds before they settle on her face. Chapped lips part around a whisper. “Doct… Sobeck…?”

Aloy winces. That name on anyone’s tongue but hers and Sylens’ sounds alien. Elisabet has been her secret for a year, only pieces shared with people she could trust like Talanah, Varl, and Avad. But if her guess is right, if this man is somehow here from the time of the Old Ones… He might have known Elisabet as well as she does.

“There’ll be time for questions later, I promise. I’m going to bring you someplace safe where you can rest. Do you understand?” He stares for longer than necessary before angling his head just enough to nod. 

“Aloy,” Gildun pipes up from behind her. 

She looks down at the other two strangers the man huddles over. They’re both breathing, and a touch to their necks confirms their pulses are normal. Where the spectacled man is worn thin from exhaustion these two could easily be mistaken for a pair that’s simply slept in too long. “Do you think you can carry these two upstairs?”

“Eh… Only one at a time, I’m afraid.” 

_Dr. Sobeck, if additional assistance is required it is recommended that a multiservitor be activated as needed._

“A what now?” 

Aloy purses her lips. “They’re machines, but not like the ones you know. It’s hard to explain.”

Gildun chuckles, walking up beside her. “There have been a lot of hard to explain things in here. Hasn’t stopped me so far.”

“Yeah well, I don’t know how to activate one anyway. Elysium, can you-”

_Waking Multiservitor EL-52_.

“Oh.” She shares a look with Gildun. “Thank you. When will they be here?”

_Unit EL-52 is presently located in Sub-Level 4 Sector 108. Estimated time of arrival: seven minutes._

“Is whatever we’re waiting on gonna be able to carry two people?” 

Aloy shrugs and bends down to help the man settle onto his back. He gives a weak, pained groan, but in his state he doesn’t have much room to protest her repositioning him. “All the servitors I’ve seen are pretty skinny, but they’re made of metal. Maybe they can.”

Gildun hums thoughtfully. After some shuffling she can’t see he grunts, and Aloy glances back to see him carrying the other man. “May as well still help out. Have you got him?”

“Yeah, he’s pretty light. Why don’t you go on ahead and set out something for them to eat? I’ll stay and wait on our robot helper.”

“Yes, ma’am.” 

Gildun heads off with the stranger in tow. While she waits Aloy moves the woman into a resting position against the wall. She too is young, older than Aloy is for certain but still youthful. Unlike the man her skin is flush and round, confirming that whatever strain the spectacled man is under hasn’t affected her. What captures Aloy’s attention most is her hair: brightly colored, as rosy pink as a wildflower. Was she born with hair so brilliant in hue, or had she taken the time to stain it that way? 

She’s so caught up in these thoughts that the sound of metallic footsteps make her jump back in surprise. The multiservitor has seen better days. One foot is bent at an odd angle, although it hasn’t impeded the machine’s movement, and the holo-skin that it projects flickers out often, at times showing the face of a dark-skinned woman and at times revealing the metal skeleton within her.

_“Please stand back. I will transport the patient to the nearest medical wing.”_

Aloy frowns but does as she’s asked. “That won’t be necessary, we have a room upstairs she can be taken to.”

_“A diagnostics check-up is required for all residents who have suffered an accident or injury. I will transport the patient to the nearest-”_

“Yeah, I heard you the first time.” Groaning, Aloy kneels down to pick up the young man in her arms. “Elysium, are any of the medical facilities operational?”

_Negative. All medical facilities are currently inoperable at this time._

Aloy gives the servitor a stern look. “Look, just follow me. I promise they’ll be fine in our room.”

The servitor hesitates only a moment before bending down to lift up the woman with a frightening amount of ease despite its thin frame. It provides no further commentary, following Aloy out of the room and up the stairwell without issue. Once or twice the man in her arms tries to speak but the words make no sense to Aloy’s ears. At this point she’s simply amazed that he’s still conscious. 

Back in their room Gildun has rations set out and a spare bedroll laid across the metal bed frame for the sleeping stranger to rest on. He startles where he has his back propped against the bed, looking over the servitor that stands at attention beside Aloy. “Great sparker… Is that the, uh…?”

Aloy glances at the servitor. “You can lay her on the bed now. And yes, _that_ is a multiservitor.”

He scrambles onto his feet to make way for the servitor as it lays its charge by her companion. Aloy follows after the robot and just manages not to snicker when Gildun unceremoniously sticks his hand through the servitor’s holographic skin. She smiles to herself, gently laying the spectacled man on the edge of the bed. Despite the bulk of the bed being filled by the other man and woman there’s just enough space for his skinny frame. 

_“Shall I run a diagnostics check-up on the patients now?”_

“Sure? What is that?”

Gildun makes a disbelieving sound. “You’re going to tell it to do something you don’t understand?”

Aloy turns to him, hand on her hip. “I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t actively try to harm any of us.”

The servitor, undeterred by their argument, steps around Aloy to face the trio of strangers. Extending a slim metal hand, a wide beam of light runs along the body of the nearest man. _“By running a diagnostic check-up I am able to assess the physical condition of my patients. The process is non-invasive and only requires a few moments to produce results.”_

“See?” 

Chuckling, he settles onto his own bedroll. “But you weren’t certain until you asked.”

Aloy rolls her shoulders and returns her attention to the servitor and the strangers. “Just how long is this going to take?”

_“I have already assessed Delsin Rowe and Abigail Walker, both of whom are at minimal risk and will only require rest and sustenance to return to perfect health.”_

“And what about him?” Her gaze falls to the last of the trio. He’d finally succumbed to sleep after setting him in the bed. 

_“Eugene Sims is at moderate risk and shows signs of physical exhaustion. He may suffer from several symptoms of fatigue upon awakening, including weak or sore muscles, short-term memory problems, and impaired motor coordination. Retrieving Eugene Sims’ medical records.”_

“I don’t doubt he’s exhausted. Just look at the poor guy.” Gildun frowns. “But what happened to him? Where did he even come from?”

Aloy spares a look at the servitor. It wouldn’t be able to answer that question, but Elysium might. It seemed to be the only one who knew what was going on. “Elysium, are you still there?”

_Affirmative, Dr. Sobeck._

“Were you able to see where these three came from? One minute it’s just me and Gildun in the room and the next there they are on the floor.”

There is a pause, long enough for the servitor to interrupt their conversation. _“It appears I am unable to access the necessary medical records from the Elysium database. I shall attempt to retrieve local records that may have been stored on the patients’ Focuses.”_

_Dr. Sobeck, the information you seek has been restricted to the highest level personnel of Elysium. During operation this restriction would have included only Ava Soledad, the overseer of the facility. However, as Alpha Prime you also have access to these records. Shall I transfer them to you?_

Restricted information. Always the best kind for putting the pieces of the past together. “Yes, we need them.” Shortly after, a notification pings on her Focus and she opens the file. It’s an incident report signed by Soledad on the 13th of July of 2067, just a year after Elysium was ultimately sealed shut. Much of what it says is succinct, professional, impersonal. There was a malfunction in the same room where they found the three. Something to do with the machinery and something called a “holospace”, a word Aloy has heard of but never really understood. 

_“Dr. Sobeck, if I may…”_

Aloy’s attention snaps to the servitor. “Hm?”

It stands a foot back facing her, hands folded in front of itself. _“None of the patients are in dire need of medical attention. I can see that the two of you have been awake for some time, and as such I would recommend you rest for the night.”_

As if on cue Gildun gives a drawn out yawn, and Aloy stifles one of her own. “Yeah, okay. But if any of them wake up you need to get me right away, alright?”

_“Of course, Dr. Sobeck.”_

“Thank you.” Aloy hesitates. Behind her she can hear Gildun settling in to sleep already, but she can’t help watching the trio slumber, unaware of the unthinkable circumstance they’re in. Old Ones alive and mostly well in the present day, by means that Aloy hasn’t quite wrapped her head around yet. A scenario that she’s only dreamed of, but with very different people. What will she do with them? How will they adapt to this new world? Or will they reject it, preferring to stay amongst the ruins of their lost home? Elysium, it seems, held more questions than answers for her. But she doesn’t regret this delve. In fact, she feels grateful that _she_ found it and these people rather than some uncaring enterpriser, which is a thought that makes her chest seize.

She steps past the servitor, a quiet sentinel standing at the end of the bed, to slump down onto her bedroll. Whatever may come will come. Until then, Aloy is weary, and she knows she will need to be at her best in the morning.


	2. Preparations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took way longer than I intended, and I'd already factored in a month to get the next chapter up. Hopefully the wait is worth it! There's about an even mix of Aloy and the Conduit Crew this time to make up for the trio being unconscious for most of the last chapter.

Wakefulness comes to Fetch with a vengeance. Needle-like pain lances through the side of her skull from sleeping too long, and she squirms away from the knee jabbing into her back.

“Delsin,” She groans. “You’re hogging the bed again.” The only reply is a bit of grumbling from her right. Fetch rolls onto her side to shove him over, glaring down at him. “Like sleeping with a corpse. Lucky you’re so cute.”

_“Good morning, Ms. Walker.”_

Fetch shouts, jolting up into a seated position. A servitor stands at her bedside, regarding her patiently. She breathes deeply to try and slow her heart rate back to a normal pace. “Morning? What’s a servo bot doing in my room? I didn’t ask for a wake up… call…”

It takes a moment to recognize what feels wrong about the situation, beyond the servitor being someplace it hasn’t been directed to. This room isn’t hers. Eugene’s collection of books and games aren’t surrounding the t.v. screen in the corner and there aren’t enough clothes thrown about everywhere to be as messy as her room. The bed isn’t the right size - no wonder her back is sore with how cramped they are. And they _definitely_ don’t have two extra roommates that sleep on the floor.

_“Allow me a moment to-”_

“No, oh no you aren’t doing anything until you tell me what the _hell_ is going on.” She reaches back and starts shaking Delsin. “D, get up!”

He jerks away from her touch, whining. “Five minutes…”

_“Please remain calm, Ms. Walker. In order to answer the questions you have I must wake Dr. Sobeck. She has a better understanding of the situation and can explain it in a clearer manner than I.”_

“You better get on with it then. _Delsin!”_

“I’m up! I’m up, geez Fetch.” Delsin sits forward with a huff and gives a bleary look around the room. “What’s the problem?”

Fetch chooses to ignore his dumb question, turning her attention to Eugene. Laid out on his back the way he is, she has a full view of the dark circles under his eyes. Not abnormal per say, especially with how many sleepless hours he put in with work, but they look worse than usual. “Come on, sleepyhead, something’s up.”

“So you’ll be gentle with Eugene but not me?”

Giving him a sharp look, she puts a finger to her lips. “Eugene? Wake up.”

Rustling at the end of the bed precedes the appearance of one of the strangers, a redhead in rustic clothes who motions for the servitor to step aside. She tries to make her way over but Fetch slips off the bed to stand between her and Eugene. The woman gets the message, though she doesn’t look happy about it. “I know you have no reason to trust me.”

“No shit. Who are you?”

“My name is Aloy.” She glances back at her companion standing awkwardly to the side. “His is Gildun. You’ve already met the servitor that helped us. I can tell you now that your friend is okay, he’s just exhausted.” When Fetch opens her mouth to ask another question Aloy presses on to interrupt her. “The servitor made sure of it. It scanned the three of you and told us you and your dark-haired friend were fine, but that the other still needs rest.”

_“You have slept for nine hours since you have been in our care.”_ The servitor chimes in, its glitching, holographic face bearing a placid smile. _“A sufficient amount of time for patients at minimal risk to rest before resuming their daily activities. Mr. Sims, however, is suffering from symptoms of exhaustion and may require additional time before he can be considered at lower risk.”_

It’s Delsin’s turn to speak then, maneuvering himself to sit on the end of the bed. “What do you mean ‘lower risk’? What happened to him?”

“I was hoping one of you could tell us.” Aloy looks between the two of them. “But I can tell you what I know, as little as that may be.”

“Please do.” Fetch folds her arms over her chest.

It’s subtle, so much so that Fetch has to convince herself she isn’t just projecting, but she spots the tightening around Aloy’s eyes as she takes in a breath. “When we found you there had just been an emergency with Elysium’s computer systems. I needed to step in to stop it from overloading and shutting down completely. The system reset and not a minute later the lights flashed in the room we were in. We found you three huddled on the floor. Your friend there- It’s Eugene, right?”

Delsin nods.

“Eugene was awake for a few minutes. Barely coherent, but enough to tell him we were here to help. Given his state, though, I wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t remember it. You all appeared out of thin air. We don’t know how you ended up there or why.”

The other stranger, Gildun, motions for their attention. “Aloy was blinded by the flash, but I managed to catch when you showed up. I wasn’t sure I could trust my eyes, and I’m still not so sure mind you, but I did and I’ll never forget the sight. Weird lights came blazing out of the computers Aloy had been working on, like nothing I’ve ever seen before. And from that light came you three. I told Aloy it looked like you lot were _made_ of the light, but like I said… If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes I would’ve laughed at the thought.”

A frown settles on Fetch’s face, and when she looks to Delsin she finds him staring right back with a similar, pensive expression. She quirks her eyebrows, silently asking his opinion. Delsin huffs something of a mirthless laugh. He heaves himself to his feet and raises a hand to his Focus. Digital buzzing fills the air as a short stream of blue light flows from the device down into his arm. Aloy and Gildun both look shell-shocked, the latter stepping forward to better observe the display, which confirms one detail about them: clearly neither have seen a Conduit before.

“Did it look anything like this?” Delsin asks, holding out his arm. Gildun reaches out to him, going so far as to carefully grab his arm and poke at the light surrounding Delsin.

“Hammer on steel, _yes_ that’s exactly like it. Except, of course, that it was all over you and in you. But I don’t understand how…”

Fetch, throwing caution to the wind, holds up her arm and allows a swirl of neon light to manifest around her hand. “We’re Conduits.”

Aloy opens and closes her mouth for a moment before admitting, “I’ve never heard of that before.” Her eyes trail down to watch the wisps of light as they float about, dissipating like smoke when Fetch pulls her hand back. “What does that even mean?”

“It means we were born with the Conduit gene.” Delsin gives Gildun a look, and though it takes him a moment the other man eventually wanders back to where he stood before. “People born with the gene can have special powers. Sometimes they begin to manifest during a stressful situation, life and death kind of stuff. It used to be that most Conduits manifested from exposure to old tech that’s been outlawed. Too dangerous. A lot of folks with the gene, though, they never even realize they were born with it until they take a test. They can go their whole lives never knowing what they’re capable of. Fetch here can manipulate neon light, and Eugene has a wicked grasp on controlling electronics. It’s how we were able to travel fully into the VR system instead of using regular headsets.”

“And you?”

“I dabble in a bit of both, plus a few others. My power is the ability to absorb _other_ Conduits’ powers. I try not to go too crazy with it. Only have a few tricks in my arsenal.”

“So, wait a minute…” Aloy puts a hand to her temple. “You’re telling me… You’re saying that humans used to have supernatural abilities?”

“Well it isn’t a ‘used to’ if _we’re_ still around.” Delsin scratches at his chin, his tone dipping into somber territory as he goes on. “Not that we will be for long, but, uh. Nobody likes to talk about all that.”

Aloy nods slowly, eyes unfocused. Like a thought has only just occurred to her. “Right. I need to ask you something. It’ll sound like a dumb question, but… What year is it?”

Delsin chuckles at that, but Fetch can’t bring herself to join in. Something in her tone, in the strangeness of where they are and the way these two strangers are acting. Not knowing what Conduits are despite how prevalent they were in the news. Bile churns in her stomach. 

“It’s 2067. Dude, it’s like the middle of July, it’s way past the grace period of forgetting what year it is.”

“Except it isn’t.” Her voice is soft. And Fetch knows that tone. Knows what it sounds like when someone has bad news. It’s the same tone nurses have when discussing dementia patients, when the doctor tells you the cancer’s too difficult to operate on, when you find out you just lost your child or your parents or your older brother who meant _everything_ to you. That kind of tone that means they don’t want to tell you what they know because it will _break you_ , but it needs to be done. 

Delsin, bless him in his confusion, hasn’t caught on yet. “Uh, yeah it is. I should know, there’s only a year and a half left ‘til the best year ever.”

“It’s Delsin, right?” Aloy steps forward. For the first time Fetch notices the beads in her auburn hair, the hand-stitched clothing that wouldn’t look too out of place at an Akomish celebration. 

Again, Delsin nods.

“I don’t… I don’t know how else to tell you two this. Right now? It’s the year 3042. It’s been almost a thousand years since you three went into that machine.”

The silence that follows will haunt Fetch for months to come. No one dares to move, nor to speak and break the fragile quiet as Aloy’s revelation settles in their minds. A thousand years. Gone in the blink of an eye.

_“It appears that Mr. Sims has awoken.”_

All eyes turn to Eugene, who struggles to roll onto his side. Delsin sits down on the bed and reaches out to take his hand, and Fetch kneels down by his pillow, tenderly brushing back the hair covering his eyes. “Hey, ‘Gene. Can you hear me?”

He swallows with difficulty but manages to rasp out a “yeah”.

“How are you feeling, angel? Gave us a scare when we couldn’t wake you up,” Delsin whispers. 

“Feel like shit…”

Delsin smiles, pained as it is. “I bet so. We’re here for you. We’ll get some food in you and a bit more sleep and you’ll be good as new. Think you can sit up?”

“No…”

“That’s okay. What if I held you up in my lap? You can lay on me and I’ll do all the work. Sound good?”

Eugene considers it and gives a little nod. Fetch shifts back out of the way so Delsin can lift him up onto his lap. He fits just right, Eugene’s head sliding under Delsin’s chin. “That’s it… There’s someone here you should meet. She’s here to help us out.”

Aloy hesitates. Whether from discomfort or surprise at being welcomed so quickly Fetch can’t tell, but she makes her way over and tries to catch Eugene’s eye. “Hi, Eugene. I’m Aloy. I found you three in the, um. The computer room downstairs. Do you remember me? We talked a little before you passed out.”

He studies her, eyes squinting. “I do. You look just like-”

“Elisabet Sobeck.” She purses her lips. “I know. Unfortunately, I’m not her. But I know a lot about her, and the work she did to create GAIA.”

“Hmm.” Eugene takes a moment to blink a few times, and when he looks around at them his eyes are more focused. When his gaze pauses on her Fetch offers him a tight-lipped smile. “They’re all dead, aren’t they?”

Eyes wide, Fetch looks from Delsin wearing a similarly rattled expression to Aloy, who may as well have been punched in the gut. “I guess you heard that part… Yes. They were-” Aloy stops short and appears to reconsider her approach. “They’re all long-gone. I’m so sorry. I wish I could tell you otherwise. But the Alphas… Elisabet… Zero Dawn was a success. They may be gone, but their legacy is all around us.” A tear winds down her cheek. “And when you three are ready, I hope you’ll let me show it to you.” 

Relief washes over Eugene’s face, and the tension in his limbs fades, leaving him slack in Delsin’s arms. “Okay. That’s good… I’m starving.”

And just like that the tension in the room dissipates in turn. Delsin pulls Eugene tighter to his chest and Fetch lets herself laugh at the ridiculousness of it all. Aloy, wiping at her eyes, moves past a smiling Gildun to rummage around in a leather sack, presumably seeking out something they can eat. Only the servitor remains unmoved by the palpable fog of incredulity. 

As wonderfully life-changing a turn of events as it is to meet living members of a bygone age, it comes with the unfortunate side effect of cutting Aloy’s delving excursion short. Between the two of them she and Gildun only have enough rations to give them three days of delving time plus enough to cover the day’s trip to and from the ruin. Adding three mouths to that equation will starve them fast if they don’t leave as soon as they can. 

Given that neither of them brought much for the trip up the mountain, Gildun and Aloy are ready to go right away. But Fetch insisted that she and her companions try to salvage what they could from their old room. There were no arguments there. She expected that the three of them would want privacy while doing so, but Delsin surprised her by asking that she tag along.

“You’ll know better than we will about what’s worth taking with us.”

And so she finds herself hovering at the back of the crowd while they ascend to the second level of Elysium. Fetch leads the way, with Eugene leaning on Delsin in the middle. They speak little along the way aside from a whisper or two between the two men, which Aloy doesn’t mind a bit. It already feels like she’s intruding on something personal despite the invitation.

The door to their quarters stutters on its track while it slides open, unhappy to be ordered around after years of being dormant. Once inside Fetch makes to close it back, a hand already raised to the interior panel, then grimaces. “Better not.”

She then turns away to start searching the room. Eugene has Delsin help him to sit on a cushioned bench nearby. Aloy, at a loss for what she can do, activates her Focus and wanders about seeing what it can identify for her.

“You should go pack up our clothes.” Eugene pipes up, and she hears Delsin chuckle behind her. “What? You’re always the best at getting everything to fit in our suitcases.”

“Hey, I’m not saying you’re wrong. What are you gonna do out here? Look cute while we do all the work?”

This time it’s Eugene’s laughter. Aloy glances back over her shoulder in time to see them with their heads bowed together, voices lowered to murmurs they pass back and forth until one pulls the other into a gentle kiss, and she reads that as her cue to make herself scarce.

The adjoining room is small, angled in such a way that makes sense when designing to save space but in practice feels cramped. Fetch kneels down in front of a cupboard rifling through its contents. Aloy clears her throat. 

“Hey Red.” Fetch burrows further into the cupboard until only her backside is visible. 

She frowns. Not a _very_ original nickname, but Aloy supposes it could be worse. “Hey. What are you looking for down there?”

“Toiletries. I thought most of these shampoo bottles would’ve dried up by now but look-” And she punctuates it by crawling back out and shaking a long container that, lo and behold, sounds like it still holds some fluid. “Definitely not worth bringin’ all of this with us but I paid good money for this stuff. And my hair deserves only the best.”

Fetch makes a show of running her fingers through her vibrant pink hair, which gets a smile out of Aloy. “Enough about me though, why’re you in here? The boys bore you to death?”

“Actually, I figured they might want some time alone. They were getting kind of intimate when I left.”

“Intimate?” She snorts, climbing to her feet to move past Aloy. When she gets to the doorway Fetch cups her free hand around her mouth. “Hey nerds, save the snogging for later! We’ve got company over!”

“Yeah yeah, we’ll behave!” Comes Delsin’s reply.

Satisfied, Fetch turns back to Aloy with a cheeky smile. “Better?”

Aloy, stunned but thoroughly amused, nods along. “I didn’t mind that much, actually. I just didn’t want to seem rude.”

“ _Right_. I have no problem there. They love me too much to get mad.” 

They share a laugh at that, and Aloy excuses herself to head back into the main room. The men are on opposite sides of the room this time, with Eugene still reclining on the bench while Delsin picks through stiff, dusty clothing. 

Eugene waves her over, inviting her to sit with him. The plush surface of the bench, while frigid cold, reminds her of the lounging settees common in Carja homes. “So, um. 3042, huh?” He asks it like it’s some sort of in-joke between them, forcing a smile. “Time really flies.”

She nods. Awkward silence follows wherein both of them seem to skirt around a topic that needs to be addressed. After what feels like an age Aloy activates her Focus, hoping the distraction of rifling through her files will ease the tensions sure to come. “About that… There’s a lot to discuss about what happened after the swarm was shut down. Obviously GAIA succeeded in returning life to the Earth.” She motions to herself in between gathering all the relevant data she feels safe in sending to his own Focus. “But the world isn’t the utopia Elisabet hoped it would be.”

There’s a pause before Eugene nods. “It’s never that easy. The world was never perfect, and honestly, even when I was working with the others on the project I had my doubts about humanity learning from our mistakes.”

Aloy stops, turning to him. “So you were part of it all? You helped create GAIA?”

“Indirectly.” His expression grows sheepish. “I worked in the MINERVA branch, one of the Captain’s Betas.”

“You mean Captain Okilo.”

“That’s the one. Hated being called anything else. She was strict, and she accepted nothing less than our best. If anyone else had been Alpha I doubt that Zero Dawn would have ever worked.”

She nods along. The way he spoke of her, Aloy can’t help being reminded of War-Chief Sona. “I see. So you already know how complex Zero Dawn was, how many parts needed to be in working order for the plan to succeed. In a way GAIA succeeded and failed. Through no fault of her own.”

Aloy won’t let herself look over at Eugene. She doubts she could stomach whatever despair she might find on his face. “I’m sending you a few files so you can read for yourself, if you’d like. But there are two important things I think you should know right away. When the Alphas locked themselves inside GAIA Prime to finish the project, Ted Faro found a way to grant himself something called ‘Omega clearance’ from his private bunker. It gave him access to project files that Elisabet had previously restricted him from-”

_“What?”_ The sharp flare of anger from him wrests Aloy’s attention away from her Focus. In contrast to the frail young man she’d first seen the day before, Eugene stands on shaking legs with fists clenched, fury blazing in his eyes. His outburst is so jarring that it manages to catch the others’ attention, too.

Delsin calls out from the far side of the room, setting the bulky container he was filling with clothes aside. “Hey, take it easy over there.”

Aloy reaches up, gently taking hold of Eugene’s forearm. “None of this will be easy to hear. I wish I could ignore that any of it happened, but that wouldn’t help anyone. Least of all you three. Please, you should sit down. And just- Just remember that life goes on, despite what was done in the past.”

A few tense seconds pass, then several more before Eugene takes a deep breath. He looks behind her, likely to Fetch or Delsin, then retakes his seat. “Okay…”

She lets go of him and motions for the others to join them, waiting until they find a place to sit to continue with the bad news. “As I was saying. Ted was obsessed with the impact GAIA would have on the new generation. He thought that the knowledge stored inside APOLLO would be a disease rather than a gift. That it would hand to us all the information needed to return the human race right back to where it was before the swarm, rather than be a lesson on what should be avoided. So he found a way past the Alpha-level restrictions and he destroyed every copy of APOLLO’s database that existed.” 

This time Eugene is too stunned to say anything. He hides his face in his hands, shrinking in on himself. 

“Me and Del weren’t as involved with all that Zero Dawn stuff,” Fetch speaks up. “But I remember Eugene said APOLLO was super important to the whole thing. Without it wouldn’t you guys have… I guess the word is _regressed_ into cavemen or something?”

“Uh, no I don’t think so? That depends on what you mean by that.”

Fetch shrugs, looking to Delsin and Eugene, neither of which make much effort to help explain. “Geez. I’ve never had to explain cavemen to anybody before. Basically, when humans first evolved into humans they were still pretty feral. Animalistic, y’know? Basic tools made of rocks and sticks and no real language to communicate with. I mean listen to the both of us talking. Your accent’s different but we’re both speaking fluent English. How’s that possible if that asshole deleted the database?” 

“The Cradle facilities were outfitted with basic learning modules. The multiservitors there are similar to the ones here in Elysium, but they were programmed to raise children. They did their best. It isn’t as though anyone left the facility not knowing that the sky was blue or that you need to eat and drink to survive, but without access to APOLLO those children grew up with a limited education.” 

Aloy glances between them. “But humanity has come a long way. The Nora are a bit set in their ways, but even they’re starting to open up and accept change. The Oseram, Gildun’s tribe, they’re geniuses when it comes to machinery. And the Carja read and write and build grand structures. They may be stuffy, and they definitely go a little overboard with worshipping the sun, but almost every tribe I’ve met has been sophisticated in one way or another.”

“Wait, they worship the _sun?_ ” Delsin snickers. He yelps when Fetch punches his arm, throwing up his hands to yield. “What? I just find it a little funny, is all. You probably don’t know, Aloy, but this wouldn’t be the first time humans have thought the sun was a god. History always seems to repeat itself.” 

“It’s okay. You’re not the only one that thinks it’s silly.” She tamps down the urge to smile. A not-too-difficult feat when the thought of her next point comes to mind. “The other important detail is that the world is a dangerous place. Through the files I’ve found over the years, I got the impression that most people from your time didn’t have so many life-threatening worries in their daily lives. That isn’t the case now. When GAIA terraformed the planet she needed to create machines to do so. Those machines are still around, taking care of the environment, and until about twenty years ago they were docile. If you left them alone, they would leave you alone, too. But a glitch occured that started turning them hostile, and new machines are being made in response to people fighting to defend themselves. They’re made _specifically_ to hunt down humans.”

All the color drains from Delsin’s face. “ _Jesus_. So you’re telling me we traded one swarm for another?”

“No, not exactly.” She sighs, biting down on the inside of her cheek. Now definitely wouldn’t be a good time to mention the Eclipse’s efforts to reawaken Faro’s old war machines. “None of them have the biomass conversion systems that the Faro robots did. That doesn’t make them any less dangerous, but they _are_ different from the swarm. Besides, I’ll be with you three until we find a place for you to settle. I have a lot of experience with machines; more than most. I’ll do whatever I can to make sure they never lay a hand on you.” Aloy meets their gazes. Even Eugene’s, as he finally unfurls himself from his despair. 

“Sounds like we don’t have much choice but to trust you.” Fetch folds her arms over her chest, sharing a look with the others. “But for the record, we’re not so helpless. Just tired.”

“Really fucking tired,” Eugene adds.

Aloy can’t blame them for it. “I wish we had time for you all to decompress. But we need to get back down into the Longroam before we run out of food. Or at the very least off of this mountain. There’s hardly anything to hunt up here.” 

A collective murmur of agreement rings out. No one can argue against the risk of starvation, although Eugene does grimace and note that he’s never had to catch his own meals. By the time their business in their old quarters is finished the three of them have, if not accepted the frameshift of the new world, resigned themselves to leaving the familiarity of Elysium for the good of their health. 

Gildun and the servitor await them in the wide entrance hall on the highest floor. He eagerly waves them over. “All set? Ella says it’s still daylight outside. Well, actually she just spat out some numbers when I asked if she could peak out the doors and tell me how much daylight we still have. Didn’t wanna go myself in case they locked me out. But whatever those numbers are, she says they mean it’s not quite midday.”

Amusement turns up the corners of her lips. “Thanks, Gildun.” She pauses. “Wait, you gave her a name?”

“More of a nickname, really, seeing as she already has one. But a bunch of random letters and numbers?” Gildun scoffs. “Whoever made her has no appreciation for their creations.”

“It was pretty standard back in the day.” Delsin chimes in. He looks equally as confused as Aloy feels. “They made ‘em by the dozens. No one really had time to name them all, so you give them a randomly generated designation. Not like the ‘bots complained.”

Unconvinced, Gildun turns to the servitor. “You like your new name, don’t you?”

_“That is correct. However, I am programmed to respond to any designation given by the occupants of Elysium, so long as it does not fall within the parameters for derogatory language.”_

“Uh, that’s… Good, right?”

“It means if someone called her shithead she wouldn’t bother giving them the time of day.” 

From behind him Fetch groans. But Gildun perks up immediately. “Really? Well she _did_ tell me what time it is, so there! Ella is a perfectly good name.” 

Aloy smiles, though the gesture is strained. “That’s great. But you know she can’t come with us.” 

Even though he must have known better (or Aloy hopes he did), Gildun’s grin cracks. He puts a hand over his chest and looks between Aloy and Ella, waiting for one or the other to deny the inevitable. When neither do his posture sags. “I… I guess I did and… didn’t want to believe it. She only just woke up. I’d hate to think of her going right back to sleep, all alone up here in the mountains.”

“I know, Gildun.” She rests a hand on his shoulder. “But the servitors weren’t made to work for this long. Ella was only woken up because it was a dire emergency. And I think it was entirely possible she was the only servitor functioning well enough to power on.”

_“Dr. Sobeck makes an excellent point.”_

Gildun frowns, drooping eyes and lower lip turning his expression pouty. “Does that mean if you stay awake any longer, you’ll die?”

_“I will not die, as I am not a living creature. I estimate seven hours of sustainable operation before my systems will require I power down. At which point, I will rest. I was powered down for 876 years before waking yesterday. I do not know what death is like for organic lifeforms, but I do know what stasis is like for multiservitors like myself. It is quiet. And it is peaceful. Please do not worry for me.”_

“Gosh…” Sniffling, Gildun runs a gloved hand across his face. “Okay. Okay, I can- I don’t want to, but I can agree to that. Guess that means I won’t be able to come visit you again, huh?”

The servitor is silent for a moment, and Aloy gets the distinct feeling the gears are turning in its digital mind. _“I’m sorry. But I do not think that will be possible. Further attempts to interact with me will only cause more grief.”_

His voice is small then. “Yeah.”

Aloy forces herself to breathe deep, dislodging the heavy weight that had grown in her chest. “Ella, can you or Elysium enter Gildun into the Zero Dawn resident database? Give him Alpha-level clearance.”

_“I will need to register his genetic profile which will take a moment, but yes. Afterwards, Gildun will have full access to the facility.”_

“Thank you.” She motions for the other three to follow her towards the door, leaving Gildun to say his goodbyes. 

Eugene has his spectacles in his hand, using the other to wipe his eyes. “The world ended, and here I am crying over leaving a robot behind.” He looks up when Fetch pats his back. 

“It’s okay, ‘Gene. We get it.”

When he puts his spectacles back on his gaze drifts over to Aloy. “I didn’t think anyone could just add more people to the registry once Elysium was sealed up. And the clearance needed to do that… It isn’t just tied to accounts or codes. It’s tied to your DNA. But I’m gonna bet you already knew that.”

Sheepish, Aloy can only nod. “And I’m betting you already know why I have it.”

He nods in return, looking dazed. Delsin sighs and puts his hands on his hips. “Good grief, can the two big brains in the group please just speak plain English for once?”

“She’s a clone.” Eugene says it like it’s a blessing. An honor. Aloy would disagree. “A clone of Elisabet Sobeck.” 

Eyes widen, both Fetch and Delsin staring at Aloy as if seeing her for the first time. The awe in their expressions is unsettling and too familiar, forcing her to turn away. _Clone_. Aloy had only heard the term used a handful of times, mostly in reference to failed attempts at whatever the procedure was and a few mentions among the files about ELEUTHEIA at the Zero Dawn Facility. But it had never occurred to her that the term applied to the protocol that had made her, that it could define what she was. 

“That’s correct. It isn’t public knowledge, though, so please keep that between us.”

“Of course.” Eugene straightens up his posture. 

“Thank you.” 

Heavy footsteps draw closer. Gildun’s eyes are red-rimmed, but he manages to smile in spite of it. “Well, what are we hanging around here for? Better get going while there’s still daylight.” 

When Delsin had first arrived at Elysium it had been the peak of winter, just after the new year. The rainfall drenching the surrounding mountainside had yet to solidify into snow but it had still felt like the coldest day he could remember. Unlike then, soft flakes drift through the air around them as they trudge through fluffy drifts of it down towards flatter ground. Baffling considering that his Focus tells him that it should be May. For now he’ll chalk it up to the mountain’s height and the fact that the planet had a thousand years to recover from global warming (among other things). Maybe the Midwest was meant to be this cold. Who could say?

Aloy assures them the temperature will be much warmer once they reach their first destination by the lake to the south. Even though he finds it hard to believe, the promise of huddling around a fire with warm food in his belly is enough to keep him going.

Their little caravan of shivering hikers rounds a bend that reveals that the ground ahead flattens out considerably, and a collective gasp rises up from the three former residents of Elysium. Two robotic animals wait patiently before them. Metal curls around their heads to form horns like a ram’s, and one of them, looking up towards the group, stamps its hoof against the stone. 

“Alright, I think two of you can ride with me and one of you with Gildun.” Aloy strides ahead of them to bring the machines closer, double checking the bags strapped to their sides. “It’ll be a few hours before we see another herd of Chargers so I suggest you pick where you think you’ll be most comfortable.”

“Then I’m definitely with you.” Eugene pipes up. “I don’t think I could hang on if I’m sitting on the very back of these guys.” He looks back at Fetch and Delsin, waiting to see which of them will volunteer to join him. 

Delsin holds up his hands. “Rock, paper, scissors?”

Fetch snorts a laugh and agrees. The first round goes to her, the second to him, and they tie twice before Fetch walks off victorious. When Delsin climbs up onto the back of the machine he spots Gildun giving him a bemused look. 

“What, they really don’t have that where you’re from?” He asks, chuckling. 

“Nothing like that,” Gildun admits. He adjusts himself in his seat and flicks the glowing reigns to get the machine going down the trail after Aloy. “But I bet it would catch on. My people love to argue about everything until the moon’s high in the sky, and then they’ll keep arguing until everyone passes out from exhaustion. Now pettier disputes, sometimes that comes down to pulling different lengths of wire or whatever you have on hand - then whoever has the biggest wins. Not everybody honors the luck of the draw, though.” 

Delsin finds himself nodding even though Gildun won’t be able to see it. When the path gets steeper he reaches for the back of Gildun’s shirt to hold on to. “So, you ride these things often? We’re not gonna plummet off the side of the mountain or anything… Right?”

“Ha! Well, that’s a no. But Chargers are sure-footed. We won’t be falling off of them any time soon. I hope.” Gildun mumbles the last part, just loud enough for Delsin to catch. 

Deciding he’d rather not push the issue, Delsin backpedals, holding on a little tighter and refusing to look anywhere but forward. “Cool, cool… We had something like that, too. It was called ‘drawing straws’, but yeah, it wasn’t always done with actual straws. The name just kinda stuck.”

“I get the feeling I’m gonna say this a lot, but I have no idea what a straw is. I could try to guess, though!”

He makes a face. “Hm, no that’s okay I’ll just tell you. Straws are… They’re thin tubes of material you stick into your drinks. You suck on it and the drink goes up one end, comes out the other in your mouth. They used to be made of plastic, but they switched mostly to paper and metal when I was still a baby, right around the time of the Clawback. Feels like my whole life has been defined by ‘save the environment’ speeches.”

Gildun cranes around to look back at him. “So they were made to help you drink stuff.”

“For convenience, yeah.” He shrugs. “Some people needed them. Like people who were bedridden or couldn’t move parts of their body. It let them stay hydrated and not need someone to help them with every little thing.”

“Fascinating.” 

Delsin can’t imagine a less intriguing object, but more power to him.

The rest of the trek passes in a similar fashion, hours of riding and talking about whatever comes to mind. On occasion they pause on stretches of land that require careful navigation, but in all neither Delsin nor Gildun let up on conversation. Better to fill the time with chatter than ride in awkward silence. 

They stop to rest just before nightfall. When asked Aloy estimates that they’re more than halfway down the mountain, farther than she was expecting them to be by then. They huddle together under a rocky outcropping and pick at the dried turkey Aloy passes around. 

“Before we get to Hollow Fort there’s one more thing we need to discuss.” Aloy looks over the shivering trio.

Fetch huffs, her breath billowing in front of her face. “There’s _always_ shit to discuss with you, huh?”

“Be nice.” Eugene bumps his shoulder against hers.

Undeterred, Aloy continues on. “Hollow Fort is currently manned by members of the Nora tribe. They aren’t exactly the most open-minded about those who go into ruins of the Old World, and I’d be willing to bet good shards that they won’t be too friendly if they knew you three are Old Ones who used to live in the ruins.”

“I’m not that old.” Delsin grumbles.

“That’s just what we call the people who lived before the swarm.” She rolls her eyes at him. “My point is we’ll need to come up with something else to explain who you guys are. Where you came from. What tribe you belong to, if you want to say you belong to any.”

“Probably not a good idea to say we’re part of any tribe around here, since we don’t know anything about them.” Eugene points out. 

“True, but most people will assume you belong to some community or another. One that’s very distinctive, if your clothing is anything to go by.” She motions to their outfits. “It’s something to think about. I can give suggestions but ultimately that decision is up to you.”

Laying his head back against the rock wall, Delsin goes quiet. Memories from Salmon Bay flood his mind, wistful and stirring a grief in his heart he’d long hoped was buried. It threatens to overwhelm him, and he reaches out to grab the nearest thing, which ends up being Fetch’s wrist.

“Hm?” He can feel her eyes turn on him even though she’s only visible in his periphery. “Hey, what is it?”

He opens his mouth to speak but what comes out is cracked. Running his thumb along the back of her hand, he clears his throat and tries again in a low voice. “How about the Akomish?”

There’s shuffling beside him, and before he knows it Fetch and Eugene have piled on either side of him to hold him tight. He doesn’t know if he’s shaking from the laughter he gives or the tears pricking his eyes. “Jesus… It’s been years now, you’d think… _Fuck_.”

“It’s okay, Delsin.” That’s Eugene’s voice muffled against his neck. “It’s okay to still miss them.” 

He doesn’t know what to say to that despite the flurry of emotional responses making his brain stuffed up, so he just nods and holds them both awhile longer. When they do eventually pull away from each other Aloy makes no comment, waiting patiently.

“Okay.” Delsin takes a steadying breath. “I guess we’re the Akomish. We might be the only ones left, but that’s okay. ‘Cause we take care of our own.” He looks to Fetch and Eugene, the last family he has, and the grief that choked him before is replaced with a swell of pride. He would have faced the swarm head-on if he had them fighting by his side. And he’ll tackle whatever awaits them in this new world as long as they’re together.


	3. The More Things Change

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this took ages to finish. Between college work and being in quarantine I wasn't sure I'd get an update out before the end of the year. The good news is this chapter is even longer than my previous ones, so I do hope it makes up for the long wait.

Rows of hard drives line the walls of a stark metal room. The hairs on Eugene’s arms stand on end thanks to the heavy gust of air conditioning needed to keep the room at a stable temperature. He knows this space, even though he’s never set foot in it. The APOLLO archives back at the Zero Dawn facility. Or what constituted the early stages of the archives, if the handful of empty shelving units nearby are anything to go on. 

He stands at the far end of the room in little more than an oversized tee and sweatpants. Hardly enough to keep the cold out. His bare feet are silent against the metal floor when he ventures forward into the archive.

In fact, no sound reaches him at all. Not the hum of the computers surrounding him, nor the sound of any technicians tasked with maintaining the space, and not even the sound of his own fingers snapping when he tests his hypothesis. He knows without looking that no one else is here. No humans, anyway.

Somehow none of this is unsettling to him. 

His hand has barely settled against the nearest terminal when a sound _does_ break through the silence. Metal clanking against metal, menacing footsteps that draw closer in seconds. Eugene has never had the misfortune of seeing any of the Swarm robots in person, but the towering silhouette of the Scarab is unmistakable. Its single lens shines amber as it bores into him. 

The thought comes to him idly, _If it’s here then we’re too late._

The light shifts hue to bright scarlet before the Scarab’s tail pierces his chest.

Eugene’s body tenses up like he’s touched a live wire, but when he opens his eyes the world of his dream gives way to an overgrown building. Breathing harshly, he tries to ground himself by taking inventory of his surroundings. He’s drowning in leather and thick fur blankets. A fire crackles close by, small but bright. A hunter rests beside it, their face unfamiliar. He can’t remember their name but Aloy promised they would watch over them while they rested. Aloy. She’s nowhere to be seen. Hopefully she hasn’t gone far.

The nearest body to his is Fetch, so he rests his head back down next to hers. He isn’t surprised when she wakes up at the slight touch. Always a light sleeper. “Mornin’.”

“Mhm.” She rolls over to face him and they curl up together in a mess of limbs. “Unfortunately.”

Huffing a laugh through her nose, Fetch smiles against the side of his face. “Alright, grumpy.”

Maybe an hour passes while they lay there enjoying each other’s warmth. At some point Delsin worms his way into their cuddle pile, an arm curled under Fetch and the other reaching across her to wrap around Eugene’s waist. Compared to the last few days it feels like Heaven, so of course it has to end too soon.

Aloy makes her way over to the trio’s sleeping area, dismissing the silent hunter waiting nearby with a wave. “Good morning you three. Time to eat.” 

“Only if there’s bacon…” Delsin grumbles. They reluctantly disentangle themselves from one another, and Delsin notably takes longer than the other two to come out from under the furs. 

“There _can_ be, if you’re willing to wait.” 

That is all the encouragement he needs to climb to his feet. “Thank God, I don’t know what I would do if you guys didn’t know what bacon was, too.”

Eugene huffs out a laugh, looking from Delsin to Aloy. But as amused as she is he notices the way she gives an uneasy glance around them. 

“Yeah, our tribes have a lot more in common than I thought.” Aloy ushers them around the nearby fire. The carcass of a wild pig has already been stripped down and she gets to work cooking for them. The methods may be different - at least for Eugene, whose only experience cooking over an open fire involved hot dogs and marshmallows - but it doesn’t take long for the air to fill with the familiar fragrance of sizzling pork. 

Aloy is the first to finish, less inclined to savor every bite, and she checks that they still have a fair amount of privacy. “Everyone remembers what we went over?”

The three of them offer their affirmations in a variety of nods and grunts. Eugene takes a quick swallow of water from the waterskin they share before counting off details on his hand. “We’re Akomish, the last of them. We lived far to the east on the coast, far enough that we do _not_ know the Utaru well; the Utaru being farmers isolated from the tribes around here. Right so far?”

She nods.

“The Akomish lived in the old ruins, hence why we’re so familiar with them and the technology of the Old World. Not all Akomish were Conduits, but there used to be plenty enough that the sight of powers was common. And we understand using our powers around most of the tribes here will cause a stir so we’re to limit how much we use them until we get where we’re going. And… Um…”

“And you three weren’t hunters by trade.” Aloy finishes for him. “You can decide what you think you did in your tribe, but you didn’t see a lot of machines or do a lot of hunting. That’ll change soon.”

Fetch pipes up around a mouthful. “ _Some_ of us hunted, just not with the stuff you guys use.” Eugene turns a curious look on her, to which she shrugs. “What? Did you forget me and Brent lived on the streets for a few years? Sometimes it was easier to just, y’know, pop a couple of rabbits or a pigeon with some neon rather than beg or fight for dinner.”

“Then we’ll have a good baseline to start from.” Aloy says. “Once we’re in the sundom-”

A snicker bubbles out from Delsin. “Sorry, sorry. I can’t help it, I’m sorry.”

She rolls her eyes and continues on. “Once we’re in _Carja territory_ hunting won’t be as necessary. I’ll be stocking up as we go and there’ll be merchants at Daytower and other outposts along the road to Meridian who will be more than happy to sell us an assortment of food for as long as we don’t run out of shards.”

Delsin raises his hand. Aloy just blinks at him, and for half a moment Eugene wonders why his boyfriend was born so pesky. “Why are you…?”

“I have a question.” Delsin explains simply. “What’s the deal with shards?”

“I don’t…”

“Well, what are they? I get that they’re currency, like dollars and quarters. Can I see one?”

Aloy’s gaze drifts to Eugene, who doesn’t know what to tell her, then to Fetch, who looks just as curious as Delsin. Without much fanfare Aloy digs into one of her pouches and produces a few triangular metal pieces, handing them over. “Here.”

Delsin happily takes them, offering Fetch one to inspect. “Let’s see, let’s see. They look pretty neat. Super pointy. Where do you get them?” 

“Machines. When you strip one of its main components there’s a lot of scrap metal left. You can take it to a smith and they’ll pay you in their own shards or you can break it down yourself and make them.”

“So it’s basically like printing money. That’s illegal.”

Aloy smirks. “Maybe in your time.”

“Hey, I wasn’t shaming or anything,” Delsin backpedals, throwing up his hands. “I dabble in a bit of crime, myself.”

“D, you were a _tagger_. Pretty removed from bein’ a kingpin.” Fetch says.

He waves her off and hands the shards back to Aloy. “Yeah yeah, I still have the arrest warrants so it counts. So if you break them down yourself how do you make them uniform? There regulations or something?”

“If I answer, will you stop asking me so many questions?”

“I make no promises.”

Aloy rolls her eyes and Eugene makes a note to apologize to her on Delsin’s behalf when they have time alone. “There are no formal rules on it. Too many tribes that love to bicker for all of that. And really the shape doesn’t matter so much as the size or the weight. They’re only good for trading or eventually melting down, so their worth comes from how much metal you can hypothetically get out of them.”

“Cool, cool. So how d’you-?”

 _“Delsin!”_ Eugene reaches over to put his hand over the man’s face.

Delsin yelps and starts laughing, shooting him a grin. "Alright angel, I'll stop. For now."

"Hey folks!" A familiar voice calls out. Eugene cranes his neck around to see Gildun walking up. "I see you've already breakfasted, glad I won't be disturbing your meal. Though I may still be bringing the mood down. I'm afraid this is where we part ways." 

“Aw, you’re not joinin’ us?” Fetch pouts. 

Gildun shakes his head. “Much as I might enjoy accompanying you on your jaunt to Carja territory, I didn’t get a lot of delving done on our delving excursion. Not that what we found wasn’t enriching in other ways!” He offers as a mollification, motioning to the three Conduits. “But I’d like to get in one more good run before I head back to the Claim for awhile.” 

“It’s okay Gildun,” Aloy says. “I kind of failed to deliver on that promise of untold treasures.” 

He shrugs his shoulders. “Far be it from me to call it a failure. Besides, now that you set up that Alpha whatever-it-was I can head back up some other time on my own. Us five, we’ve got a whole ruin all to ourselves, no trespassers, no squatters. That’s a blessing in my line of work.”

“True enough. Where will you be going next?”

“Oh, I met up with some folks that were heading up from Valleymeet on their way east like we were. Not to the same delve, mind, but past it out towards Plainsong. They have a contact out that way that says a huge landslide in the winter uncovered a cavern that houses a big ruin. Deep as the Daybrink! Very exciting stuff.”

Aloy chuckles. “Good luck to you. You’ll keep in touch?”

“I’ll try.” Gildun turns to look at the others. “And maybe I’ll stop into Meridian on my way home. See what all the hullabaloo is about. Odds are I’ll probably make it there the same day any letters I send arrive. But who knows?”

Delsin heaves himself to his feet and crosses the short distance between them, hand outstretched. It takes a second for Gildun to catch on but he puts his gloved hand in Delsin’s to shake. “We’ll be happy to host you if you come by. Assuming we have a place by then.”

“Oh there’s no doubt in my mind. Aloy’ll set you three up right.” Gildun grins. “She never does things by halves. She saved my life you know-”

“Gildun!”

He turns his head towards the voice calling for him then turns back with a sheepish laugh. “But I’ll have to regale you with that one some other time. The unknown, she calls to me. Grela does, too.” Pausing to give Aloy a firm hug, Gildun jogs off while calling over his shoulder. “Stay safe on the road you four!” 

“Bring some riches back for us, y’hear!” Fetch calls back, and they all take a moment to see him off as he joins a small troupe of travelers wearing a varied assortment of clothes and armor. Eugene recognizes some of the styles as Nora and Oseram due to their similarities to what Aloy and Gildun wear, but the rest elude him. An arm is thrown over his shoulders and he leans into the touch, Fetch’s voice much closer now. “Y’know, I think I’m gonna miss that weirdo.”

Eugene nods. “Me too.”

Once Gildun and his crew are far from sight and the group’s belongings are packed up, Aloy leads them to their trusty pair of Chargers. One less body and bag makes dividing the load easier, even with the extra supplies Aloy bought during their stay at the crumbling fort. She pardons herself to speak with one of the Nora, leaving Eugene and Fetch to watch Delsin test drive one of the Chargers in a nearby field. 

“Damn this thing can move!” Sprinting the length of the fort, Delsin’s hollering echoes through the valley. Eugene doesn’t know much about horseback riding but he’s enjoying the sight. Delsin pulls at the reins to bring the machine to a stop in front of them. Its metal hooves skid on the wet ground as it halts a little farther forward than intended, kicking up mud and pebbles in the process.

“Havin’ fun?” Fetch asks, hands on her hips. 

“Hell yeah. Haven’t gone riding since me and Reggie were teenagers. Feels a little different with metal between your legs rather than muscle.”

She snickers. Even Eugene finds himself grinning at that. “Yeah I’ll bet it does.”

“Couple of sinners, both of you.” Delsin says through his own laughter. He braces his hands on the Charger’s neck, shifting his position on the machine’s back. “Fuck, I hope this place we’re going is close by, my ass still aches from the ride down the mountain.”

“Mine doesn’t.” Eugene shrugs. “It’s too bad Aloy only has one saddle.”

“Yeah, too damn bad.”

Aloy chooses then to make her way back over, double checking their bags one more time before helping Eugene up onto the lead Charger’s back. “Alright, I’ve sent a messenger to meet with a friend of mine who can help you all blend in. If we keep on track and make good time we should arrive at Hunter’s Gathering before them. It’ll give us all time to relax and do a bit of training.”

“Lady, I think we have different definitions of the word ‘relax’.” Delsin urges his Charger onto the trail behind Aloy’s. “Usually it doesn’t come in the same sentence as ‘training’, unless it’s ‘no training today’.”

“Whether you like it or not you three are going to need it. I don’t know what kind of combat experience you have, and if we get overrun by machines I won’t be able to defend all three of you on my own.” 

Fetch pipes up from behind Delsin. “We can hold our own. Life wasn’t as peaceful as you seem to think it was back then.”

“Yeah?” Aloy turns in her saddle so abruptly it almost knocks Eugene off balance. “I’d still like to see for myself. Because whoever you fought back then? They’d have been small fry compared to what I’ve seen.” She pauses, seeming to notice the slight distress on Eugene’s face, continues on in a softer tone. “I don’t mean to belittle your experiences. But powers or no powers, previous training or not, sometimes it just isn’t enough. The machine you’re on? If I didn’t have control over it now it would flatten you on your ass in a heartbeat. And there are much bigger dangers than a little Charger. I’m not taking any risks. If I didn’t know the road between here and Hunter’s Gathering as well as I do I wouldn’t even wait that long to see what you’re made of. Now, are we going to keep wasting daylight?” She turns her gaze from each of them to the next. Whatever she sees in their expressions is enough to content her. She takes up the reins and sets them off at a canter.

The first leg of their journey is calm and quiet, much like their trip through the mountains. With thick woods providing shade the air is chilly. Faint lights bob in the distant undergrowth, growing near until Aloy leads them down a side path. In the absence of much sound it’s easy enough for Eugene to pick up the hushed voices of his friends behind them, even if the words themselves are lost beneath the thud of their Chargers’ feet on the ground. Knowing them it’s probably for the best that he can’t make them out; the last thing he wants is for Aloy to hear their grumbling. 

They hit their first bump in the road where a stream bisects the forests behind them and a rocky hilltop ahead. Aloy halts them long enough to tap her Focus and survey the land before them. Curious, Eugene activates his. Nothing seems out of sorts at first. His Focus lists a few of the native flora nearby, as well as noting Aloy’s Focus as a candidate for connecting to his own. Movement catches his attention, however. Strips of light outlined against the nearest boulder that form a vaguely familiar shape, pacing. Soon enough the shape reaches the edge of the rock, emerging from behind it to reveal a hulking, feline machine. 

“Sawtooth.” Aloy mutters. “Always a fun sight. We’re lucky though, usually they have a friend nearby.”

“You’re not gonna try to fight it are you?”

She shakes her head, motioning for Delsin to bring their Charger up beside hers. “Sawtooths are fast and they don’t give up a fight easily. This one’s alone, but if we want to get through I need you to keep moving as fast as you can no matter what happens. I’m sending the route from here to Hunter’s Gathering to your Focuses in case we get separated.”

Delsin gives a firm nod, gripping the reins tighter. He spares a quick glance to Eugene and winks. “Don’t worry about us. You know we move fast as light.”

“You keep him safe, alright?” Fetch says, looking right at Aloy.

“Don’t have to tell me twice.” 

Aloy rolls her shoulders and spurs the Charger on. Eugene wraps his arms around her waist, keeping his Focus activated. The Sawtooth is enormous up close, taller than they are even atop a Charger and twice the length of one. Four lights mark its source of vision, made apparent by the way it swings its head to look their way. The lights fade from a soft cerulean to unnerving amber to harsh scarlet in a manner that’s unnervingly familiar, somehow. But he has to shake off the strange deja vu when Aloy grabs his hands from her waist and forces the reins into them. 

“Keep us on the road! I’m gonna try to slow it down!” 

Eyes wide, Eugene does as he’s told to the best of his ability while she contorts herself enough to grab her bow and several arrows from her pack. What she does with them he can’t say, too focused on not sending them careening off the path, but after several minutes that feel like several hours the sound of metal groaning and static in the air falls away. Aloy turns forwards in her seat again and pats his hands in a motion for him to relinquish control. 

“You did good, Eugene.” 

He slumps in his seat once she’s taken over, the breath rushing out of him in a sigh. “Thanks. How often do you _do_ that?”

“Not too often. Usually I’m alone so I can just keep riding on. Some machines make it trickier than others.”

“Do you… Do you think you’ll need to do that again before we get where we’re going?”

Aloy takes a moment to look around them. The area flashes by thanks to their continued pace, but he can make out trees and cliffs on each side of them. “We haven’t run into the Bellowbacks that like to pass through here. We should be fine from here on.”

Eugene offers up silent thanks at that. He settles in for the ride and spends the rest of the journey going through the files that Aloy copied over for him while they were in Elysium. He starts with the records that were made just after the evacuation from the Zero Dawn facility. They remind him of the panic burning in his veins to get as much work done as he could without being at risk of getting left behind. Memories of being given the order to leave with the rest of the Betas and Gammas, to leave the last of the work to Captain Okilo, to enjoy the rest of his life with the ones he loves. He hopes these files would provide some closure. Things went to Hell, sure, but he wants some hope that the project had reached full completion, that the Alphas had enjoyed their own bit of relief in the GAIA Prime facility. But after the first few audio recordings detailing Dr. Sobeck’s sacrifice to keep GAIA safe… He has to move on before grief overcomes him. 

The sun is just shy of its peak overhead when they reach Hunter’s Gathering. The sandy path turns rocky as it climbs a short hill, and smoke from many campfires fills his lungs and the chatter of wildlife is overpowered by the chatter of a full campground of people. Aloy leads them around to a section of the camp where there are less people milling about, giving them space to dismount and stretch their legs. 

Fetch flags him down from where she’s standing by a log watchtower. “Hey Eugene, c’mere.” 

He jogs over, ignoring the strange looks the Nora on guard give them. She leads him up a short ladder to the landing on the tower. On this cloudless day the valley below is bathed in warm light. It glitters on the surface of a lake in the distance, dazzling to the eye, and makes the metallic hide of every machine from here to the forest’s edge gleam. 

Fetch leans against the nearest wooden column with her arms folded over her chest. “It’s like something out of a postcard. Almost makes you forget it was all gone for a long while.” 

“Almost...” He nods though his mind is far away. A breeze blows through, chillier than he expects. A wave of anxiety threatens to overcome him, borne from something he can’t put his finger on, but he pushes through it with a deep breath. Stressing out now won’t do them any good.

“So who’s this friend of yours we’re supposed to be meeting up with?”

Aloy looks up from the spear in her hand to Delsin. “His name is Teb. He’s a stitcher from the Nora.”

“A stitcher?”

“He makes clothes and armor. He’s made me a few sets actually. Spends most of his time in Mother’s Crown nowadays so it shouldn’t be long before he arrives.” She takes a step back to give the spear an experimental swing. Well-balanced, sturdy. Digging into her satchel, she offers the beady-eyed Carja merchant enough shards to pay for three of them and motions for Delsin to grab their new purchases. 

He does as he’s directed and follows her back to where they’ve claimed an area to sit at the makeshift bar Gera runs. “So he’s like a tailor. Cool.”

“You could say that, I guess. He’s a good friend of mine. It’ll be nice to see him again after so long.”

“Can’t wait to meet him.” Delsin lifts one of the mugs of Scrappersap they’ve been offered to his face and gives it a sniff. “Do I wanna know what’s in this?”

Fetch pipes up next to him. “Nah, that’d just ruin the surprise. Bottom’s up D.”

Aloy huffs, watching him take a swig. “Don’t finish it all at once, we still need to do some training soon.” She pauses to look them over. Eugene looks sick to his stomach, mug pushed away from him, and Fetch’s mug looks half empty already. “We might have to save working with weapons for tomorrow…”

“Then what else would we be training with?” Eugene looks up at her.

“Agility.” Aloy steps around the table, pointing up at the rocky mountain behind them. Though somewhat faded the vibrant Banuk markings still adorn the cliffs after more than a year since she first encountered them. “There’s a climbing trail nearby that leads right up to that top of that painting. All three of you are going to run it before Teb arrives.”

When she turns back to them she notes mixed reactions on their faces. Delsin at least looks like a child who's just been told they’ll join a hunting party for the first time. “Hell yeah! That’s right up my alley.” He forgoes the rest of his drink and closes the distance between them without taking his eyes off the trail. “C’mon guys!”

Fetch laughs at his eagerness and falls in line, with Eugene trailing in step with Aloy while they make their way to the starting point. He glances over at Aloy. “I’m guessing you wouldn’t want us to use our powers? It’d be really easy for me to just fly up there.”

“You can fly?” She catches herself wanting to inquire further - her mind’s already providing ridiculous images of him sprouting metal wings like a Glinthawk’s - but Aloy shakes her head to rid herself of those questions. There’ll be time later. “Nevermind. You’re right though, I need to see how physically capable you are. But it isn’t a race. It’s alright if you stumble along the way. I’ll be running just ahead of you all so you know where to go and where it’s safe to climb.” 

Eugene nods and the tension bleeds out of his posture. “Gotcha.”

Aloy rounds them up at the base of the trail. “Ok, so the route is relatively short, but be careful of your footing throughout. Plenty of seasoned climbers still slip on icy rock. There are handholds most of the way up as you can see-” She motions up to the yellow rope that dots the path. “But after a certain point you have to go by sight. Once we reach the top of this cliff here there’s a rope you’ll need to cross to reach the goal. After that it’s an easy trip back down. And since Eugene brought it up, no using your powers unless it’s to save yourself if you fall.”

Fetch smirks and bumps Eugene’s shoulder. “Thanks ‘Gene.”

Aloy turns her back to them to start the ascent, instructing them to wait until she’s half way up so she can watch their form. Unsurprisingly Delsin takes to it with an ease that matches his eagerness and is the first to make it up to where she hangs waiting. Fetch isn’t too far behind though, and Eugene, while slow, is methodical in where he braces his hands and feet. But this section of the trail is the easy part. Once they leave the handholds behind their pace slows significantly, even Delsin. She can hear the moment his bare hands meet ice-cold stone thanks to the hiss he lets out but he soldiers on. From here on the trail shifts from primarily vertical movement to horizontal, making the jumps easier to bear but harder to see as they curve around the cliff. Aloy deviates in her path to step onto a narrow ledge. 

“Keep going!” She calls to Delsin, pointing to safe ridges above them for him to climb up to the landing overhead. He scuttles on ahead, trailed after by Fetch who’s swearing under her breath, then by Eugene a few positions behind her. “You’ve got this Eugene. Just a bit farther.” 

It’s a struggle for him, but once he’s moved past where she stands Aloy hops back onto the trail to bring up the rear. The three of them are waiting on the plateau for her, each panting with exhaustion. “How are we feeling?”

“Wishing we’d brought gloves.” Fetch has her hands tucked under her armpits to emphasize her point. 

“Yeah…” Delsin wraps his arms around her from behind. “Maybe this Teb guy can make you some.”

“Better late than never.”

Eugene has laid himself out on the ground. “Please tell me we’re almost done.”

Aloy nudges his side with her foot. “Almost. You guys can catch your breath and then we’ll head across the rope.”

Fetch eyes it skeptically. “How do you suggest we do that? And you’re sure this thing’ll hold us?”

“Well if you go across one at a time, certainly. And you can cross it however you need to.”

“Yeah? How would you cross it?” 

Aloy steps over to the rope bridge and with a single hop mounts the rope on both feet. She has to take a moment to stabilize herself, lowering her body as much as she can, and then she’s off stepping across the yawning dip between the plateau they’re standing on and the ledge in the distance. All in all the trip takes a couple minutes and she turns back on solid ground to wave at the others. She can just make out Fetch putting her hands close to her face.

“Show off!”

Chuckling, she double checks that she has enough spare carabiners for all of them and that there’s enough space for them to stand on the ledge. Once that’s settled she waves them across, calling out. “Take your time! Don’t move when you’re off balance or if your grip isn’t firm!”

“I always have a firm grip!” That’s Delsin’s voice for sure. She rolls her eyes.

Fetch is the first to step up to the rope, mimicking Aloy’s stance and taking a slow pace. She only falters once and recovers fluidly. As she grows closer Aloy can see the single-minded focus in her eyes, but her face lights up with pride once she makes it over. “That wasn’t so bad.”

Delsin goes next and sets off with a faster start. From what she can see it looks as though he underestimates how much give the rope has after so long since being set up and he slips, catching the rope with his arm to avoid falling. 

“I’m okay!” He hangs there struggling to climb back for several seconds before giving up, swinging the rest of the way across one hand at a time. “Phew… That would’ve been embarrassing.”

“Too late, already was.” Fetch smirks.

“Ouch. My girlfriend’s so mean.”

“You’ll live.” Fetch cups her hands around her mouth. “C’mon Eugene! If you fall I’ll catch you!”

Eugene steps up to the rope and looks like he’s checking it over. He puts a foot up on the line experimentally but whatever his findings are they don’t seem to be encouraging. So instead he climbs onto the rope on his hands and knees, hooks his ankles around the line, and lets his body dangle underneath. Aloy can’t help but laugh at the sight. He makes it across in about the same amount of time Fetch did and gladly takes the offered hands Delsin and Fetch hold out to help him up.

Aloy grins. “Pretty smart.”

“They made us do something similar in gym class.” Eugene glances over the edge of the cliff. “Except then there was a lot more padding.”

“You did good, angel.” Delsin pats him on the back. His attention is drawn away by a small wooden shrine, one Aloy knows to be devoid of its relic. “What’s this here for?”

Aloy runs her fingers over the thatch of the mound then points up at the cliff face where a large geometric painting watches over the valley. “A memorial of sorts. There’s a woman in Meridian who can tell the tale better than I could - Cantarah I think she was called. Some time ago there was a Banuk man who was exiled from his tribe’s homeland, Ban-Ur, and he wandered the rest of his life leaving paintings and messages for his son. I think the reason he was exiled was because his chieftain had claimed to be the boy’s father? Or maybe the mother had lied… But it led to him killing his chieftain and so being cast out. The tribe eventually pronounced him innocent of guilt, too late to be able to find the man and bring him home.” 

“Damn...” Delsin’s attention is captured by the mural, and he lifts a hand to run along the lowest corner of it. “This guy had a beautiful style. Do they know if he’s still around?”

“I’m not sure. It’s possible, but if he’s alive no one knows where he is. He could be anywhere; Plainsong, farther south in Utaru land or beyond, maybe even the Forbidden West.”

Fetch puts her hands on her waist. “What’s so forbidden about it? Hell, I thought humanity had a thing for the West. Manifest destiny and all that.”

“It’s a long story.” That’s all Aloy can really offer up for now. She steps closer to the cliff’s edge to peer down at the camp below. From this distance she can’t make out faces in the crowd but thankfully she doesn’t have to. The unmistakable voice of Gera calls out so loud it echoes against the mountainside.

“Hey little spark! Your friends are here!”

“Sounds like it’s time to go.” Fetch says. “How’re we gettin’ down from here?”

Aloy passes out carabiners to each of them before grabbing her own, reaching up to hook it over the nearby zip line. “The fun way. Ever done something like this before?”

Eugene is wide-eyed, but for the first time since they started the climb it’s from excitement. “I’ve always wanted to try.”

Delsin gently urges Eugene to get next in line, lowering his voice to speak with him. Aloy waits until she has their attention again to speak up. 

“Make sure your hook is secure, remember to breathe, and hold on tight!” With that she drops off the edge, swinging her legs forward to get an extra bit of momentum. Her landing is rough and Rost would definitely have chastised her for it, but she doesn’t have time to dwell on it before the others come careening down the line. She keeps her feet steady to catch Eugene when he stumbles forward on his landing and together they help Delsin and Fetch in turn. At least hers wasn’t as rough as theirs. 

“Whoo! What a rush!” Fetch grins at her. “I’m sorry I ever thought you were a stick in the mud.”

“Uh, thanks?” Aloy laughs. 

“Now let’s go meet these friends of yours. Lead the way!”

With a shake of her head she carefully leads them down the rocks to head back into Hunter’s Gathering, her head on a swivel. When she’d sent out the messenger from Hollow Fort she’d only specified they seek out Teb, so why did Gera mention multiple people? Had she misheard her at such a long distance? But to her surprise and rising delight when Aloy finally spots Teb sitting at the bar there is Nakoa and Varl sitting next to him, the former already with a drink in her hand and the latter with his spear laid over the table. When they notice her in turn all three of them stand to greet her. 

“Surprise. We heard you were back in the Sacred Lands and figured we should take the chance to say ‘hi’ before you ran off again.” Nakoa is beaming when Aloy reaches them and she puts her hands on the redhead’s shoulders while inspecting her. “Huh, I think you’re taller than me now.”

Aloy smirks. “Should’ve worked on growing while I was away.”

“Wouldn’t matter, we’re still both shorter than Varl over here.” 

Chuckling, Varl shakes his head at them both. “I don’t want to get involved in this. It’s good to see you Aloy.”

Teb waves, glancing over Aloy’s shoulder. “Always is. Are these the people you mentioned in your message?”

She nods, motioning between one trio and the other. “You guys, these are Nakoa, Teb, and Varl. Meet Eugene, Fetch, and Delsin. These three are Akomish, the last of their tribe.” 

That wipes the mirth from their faces. Teb dips his head out of respect. “I’m sorry to hear of your loss. I can’t even imagine the pain you must be going through…”

Eugene offers a half-hearted smile. “Thank you. We’ve had time to come to terms with it at least.” 

“They want me to take them to Meridian to make a new home for themselves, but they have no armor. And as you can see, their clothes aren’t made for the Sacred Lands’ cold let alone the scorching heat of the Sundom.”

Teb nods, looking over their clothing. “If you’re headed for Meridian I can only do so much for you as far as the heat goes. Hm… Oh, but you’ll be going through Daytower right?”

Aloy nods. 

“Why don’t we join you that far? We can get proper armor fitted there, and I can buy the materials I’ll need to make you some casual garments.”

“That sounds good.” She looks to Nakoa and Varl. “Do you two want to tag along?”

“What, and let you run off again not to be seen for another half a year?” Nakoa grins.

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?”

Nakoa shakes her head. 

Varl nudges Nakoa’s arm, smiling at Aloy. “Daytower’s not so far. I’ve made lengthier treks for you. Besides, that means we can catch up on lost time.”

Aloy nods in agreement, feeling lighter than she has in days. 

“Are we heading out now?” Fetch asks. “Because if not, mama needs to catch her breath for a few minutes.” 

“Um…” Aloy’s gaze flits over to her Nora friends. “That depends on if you three are comfortable riding machines. If we’re going on foot we should leave now to make it there by dark, but…”

Nakoa shrugs. “I’d give it a shot but maybe some other time. Plus the exercise will probably do you three good.”

“Tch, you callin’ us out of shape?” Delsin says with a grin. 

“Maybe I am. You nearly fell off the line up there.”

He winces, looking away in dejection. “You saw that, huh…”

“The whole camp saw it.”

Teb reaches out to pat his shoulder. “It’s alright, everyone makes mistakes on the trails. And I made worse ones than that when I was training to be a Brave.”

Delsin glances up at him. “Yeah?”

“Mhm. One of them would’ve cost me my life, too, if Aloy hadn’t been there to save me.” 

Aloy feels something bump into her arm and she turns to find Eugene smiling up at her. “Do you always end up saving your friends’ lives? Gildun mentioned it, you technically saved us, now Teb.”

She rolls her eyes good-naturedly. “No, not always.” 

Nakoa laughs. “You saved mine when we met.”

“You’re not helping!” 

They all share a laugh at her expense and start gathering their belongings to get back on the road. With the sun starting its descent, Aloy figures they have enough time that they could walk all the way to Daytower, but in the name of caution they set out at a jogging pace into the valley. She lets Varl take the lead, quietly grateful to not be in charge even for something this trivial. By the time they’re halfway through the valley it dawns on her how quiet the trek has been. Gentle birdsong, the rush of wind, but no electrical whirring or metal scraping. She matches pace with Nakoa to mention it. “Are you noticing any machines nearby?”

“Shouldn’t be,” Nakoa says, tossing her head towards the southernmost part of the valley. “Except out that way maybe. See where we are?”

Aloy slows up. The lake behind them, a river running down the mountain nearby. And faint scars in the earth. Whispers of the buildings and paths and campfires that were once here. “The village. What…? It’s gone.”

Nakoa nods, coming to a halt when Aloy does. “Has been since this past winter. It was High Matriarch Jezza’s idea from what I hear. They won’t rebuild the village since Valleymeet isn’t part of the Sacred Lands, but she wants to honor it. Wait for the spring to break through the thaw, reclaim the soil before the tribe creates a monument to those who were lost. Teersa agreed to the idea of course, and you know Lansra was obligated to be difficult about anything Teersa likes, but with three votes against her she had to suck it up.” 

“Three votes? But there are only three high matriarchs.” 

Nakoa doesn’t explain right away, giving Aloy a long look. “You really have been gone awhile… I’ll tell you about Andina when we get to Daytower, but the short story is she became a great grandmother, traditions dictate blah blah blah, now we have a new high matriarch.” She shrugs. “She’s nice enough. Anyway, all the machines are gone because the Braves stationed up at Two-Teeth keep it clear for construction. They’ll get it started one of these days. It’ll have the mark of every Nora who was lost here, every family affected. Even Rost.”

Aloy stares over the empty field. She can imagine the elaborate monument that will stand here one day bearing the memory of fallen lives. The young will come upon it and know that Alana and her mother once lived here, that Rost was among them and would not be condemned to being forgotten. Her voice is quiet when she turns back to her friend. “I can’t wait to see it.”

“Me too.” Nakoa offers a soft smile. “Now let’s get back on the trail. I’m starving and you’re buying me food.” 

That startles a laugh out of her. “Am I?”

“You are if you don’t beat me there!” Without hesitation Nakoa breaks out into a sprint up the path. 

Aloy scrambles to chase after her, grinning wide. “Yeah you’re gonna need the head start!”

They breeze right past the others taking the shortest route uphill towards the Shivering Watch gate and Daytower beyond it. It’s a narrow call at the finish line, especially with both women doing their best to sabotage the other, but Aloy whoops and hollers when she’s the first to pass through Daytower’s walls. Breathless, Nakoa ends up throwing her arm around Aloy’s shoulder and leading her over to a nearby campfire to sit down.

“Damn it…” Nakoa chuckles between pants. “Couldn’t have… Gone easy on me?”

“Are you kidding? I was.” Aloy rests her head on Nakoa’s shoulder, a cocky grin on her face. 

“That’s it, I’m buying you bland soup and moldy bread for dinner.”

She chuckles at that, falling into comfortable silence while they wait for the others to catch up. Realization hits her how much she’d missed Nakoa’s company while she was away. Aloy had never been particularly reserved in sharing her skepticism and at times disdain for Nora tradition, but even among her closest friends from the tribe Nakoa was the only one she felt no need to restrain her opinions. And while Nakoa still knew only what was necessary to share about the Eclipse and their involvement with the Battle for the Spire two years prior, she’d always be the first person she’d go to among the Nora when she needed company. 

Twenty minutes would go by before their companions arrive, with Teb waving as they walk up. “So who won?”

Nakoa groans, standing up and holding a hand down for Aloy. “Aloy of course. Our dear Seeker.” 

“Why am I not surprised?” Varl asks.

At the back of the group Fetch and Delsin each throw a hand up and slap them together, and Delsin holds out his other hand towards Eugene. “You heard that, pay up Eugene. A bet’s a bet”

Eugene, far from put off at losing the bet, just stares up at him. “Delsin. We’re both broke.”

Without missing a beat Fetch sidles in between them to pull Eugene close. “Guess that means you’ve gotta find a different way to pay.” She winks and Aloy has to keep herself from laughing at the flustered look on Eugene’s face. “But for now, let’s eat!”

“Yes, let’s! Nakoa’s buying.” Aloy smiles and ushers them up the path to the settlement’s plaza. 

Tucked away in a cozy sandstone nook the group shares in warm food and tales of home and travel. The trio from Elysium are mindful to mention little of their personal lives and where they come from, with Eugene in particular framing their reticence as grief for their fallen tribe. Aloy finds herself both relieved and proud that they’ve taken such care. Their conversation feels so natural in fact that it continues even when Teb takes each of the trio to get fitted for armor, and when he gets right to sewing a few basic garments at the table in a fit of inspiration.

“So I wanted to circle back to something Nakoa mentioned earlier.” Aloy offers up, pausing to finish off her bowl of soup. “Mm, something about a new High Matriarch?”

Varl motions towards Teb with his spoon. “He’d do best explaining.”

It takes a moment for Teb to notice their gazes on him. He looks up and blinks, sheepish. “Hm?”

“We were talking about Matriarch Andina.” Nakoa says, giving him a pointed look. 

“Oh!” He sits up straighter, a warm smile lighting up his face. “That’s right, Bret’s baby was born while you were away. See, Bret’s my cousin and Andina is our grandmother. She was already a Matriarch on account of that, but now that she has a great granddaughter she was offered a place among the High Matriarchs. Andina can be strict at times, but she has a good heart.” Teb pauses, considering something. “I know you don’t always get along with the Matriarchs, but I think you would like Andina.”

Aloy smiles, surprised that it doesn’t end up forced. “As long as she’s nothing like Lansra I think we can get along somehow. It helps that she agreed to have the monument put up at Mother’s Vigil.” 

He nods. “Grandmother has always believed it was important to remember the departed. That while their spirit may be with All-Mother and the earth may reclaim their bones, their memory relies on the living to be passed on. She was involved in many funerary rituals, especially after the Proving Massacre.”

“Sounds like the kind of perspective they need around.” 

Beside her Delsin shifts in his seat to lean back against the stone wall. “Not to change the subject too much ‘cause I like hearing about your people, but I’m curious what you guys know about these neighbors of yours. The Carja? Since we’ll be moving into their capital and all that.”

“Aloy and I can probably tell you more than these two,” Nakoa says, motioning to Teb and Varl. “Since we spent more time among them.”

Aloy notices the way Varl scratches the back of his neck. “I can’t speak for everyone but… In general the Nora aren’t fond of the Carja. Not that the Carja are too fond of any other tribes either. It used to be that there was too much bad blood following the Red Raids, and if you were to ask our elders they would likely still bring them up as an excuse for animosity. Even setting history aside, our tribes’ ideals don’t always line up, so there’s still a divide.”

“For one thing, the Nora value mothers more than anyone in the tribe.” Nakoa offers. “That’s why our leaders are the Matriarchs. Grandmothers and great grandmothers. Carja on the other hand are all about the men in a family. You can be a wealthy noblewoman with all the shards in the world, but even your brother- no, even your _nephew_ can have more say in your life than you.”

There’s a drawn out groan from Fetch.

Nakoa gives her a sympathetic look then catches Aloy’s eye. “Couple of years ago when we killed Zaid? I told you I had to help the people he’d taken captive heal and return home. Turns out one of them didn’t want to go back. She was raised Carja but her mother was an Oseram slave who’d escaped during the Mad Sun King’s reign when she was still a child. Zaid found her when she was trying to head up to the Claim to be with her mother’s tribe and escape her father’s control.”

“This sucks.” Fetch lowers herself down to lay across the bench. “Do we _have_ to go to Patriarchy Land?”

“No, we don’t necessarily have to.” Aloy concedes. “And I don’t blame you. I wasn’t exactly fond of Carja culture when I was first introduced to it, but change is on the horizon. There are people in high places intent on making life in the Sundom better for those who were oppressed in the past.”

Her voice is intentionally faint but Aloy can just make out her words. “Now where have I heard that before?”

Sighing, Aloy turns to meet Eugene and Delsin’s gaze. “Give Meridian a chance. A week, a month, just something. If it doesn’t work out then try someplace else. But it’s the safest place I can think of for you three.”

The two share a look between themselves, then Delsin lowers his attention down to Fetch with a soft expression. “I think this one’s up to you, laser girl. We can always strike out on our own. Build a cabin in the woods, hunt for our meals. Livin’ off the land.”

There’s a soft snort. “You lost me at ‘cabin in the woods’.”

Eugene chuckles. “It’s the wording isn’t it? It made me think of a horror movie.”

“Hey I’m trying my best here.” Delsin throws his arm around Eugene. “So what do you say Fetch?” 

“I say if even one snotty jackass tries to get superior about gender you’re gonna have to hold me back from slapping him into the next century. And we better end up in a nice, quiet part of the neighborhood.”

He and Eugene both laugh at that, leaning against each other. “I think you got your answer Aloy.”

“Alright. Varl, would you mind seeing if there’s room at the inn for us to stay the night?”

“Sure.” 

Fetch hops up then and pushes Eugene and Delsin to their feet. “C’mon boys, let’s go see what hotel service is like around here. I’m about to fall asleep on my feet.” And with only minimal complaints they follow after Varl. 

Silence settles between those left. Aloy’s mind wanders while she watches Teb work on his stitching. From what she can tell he’s finished one top and is currently working through a pair of trousers, maybe for Eugene based on the size of it. She smiles to herself. It’d make sense to start with Eugene’s clothing after all. He and Teb are about the same height, not too dissimilar in build. After years making clothes for himself it would be second nature to sew for someone near his own size. Aloy can do a lot of things but sewing anything more than patches has always seemed too complicated to her. Maybe one day she’ll learn to make something simple. 

Teb pauses in his work, looking up at her for a moment. “I know I already mentioned it before but it really is good to see you again Aloy. And to meet up under much less stressful circumstances than the last few times.”

She thinks back to those instances: when the Eclipse laid siege on the Sacred Lands, then again on the eve of the Battle for the Spire. “This is definitely more ideal.”

“May I ask what kept you away so long this time?”

“Yeah, because ‘Seeker business’ is incredibly vague.” Nakoa butts in, putting her head in her hand. 

“It was supposed to be.” Aloy shoots her a smirk. “It’s also not an inaccurate description. You remember a year ago when I passed through on my way up to the Cut? Turns out the mystery I was looking into connected back to what led me to becoming a Seeker in the first place. I’ve been trying to dig up everything I can find about it since. I would’ve kept on too, but those three needed my help.”

Teb resumes work on the seam of the trousers in his lap. “So you’ll probably be going right back to it as soon as you’re able to, huh?”

“I have to. There’s more going on in the world than any of the tribes are aware of. And I’m one of the few people who knows and is willing to do anything about it.” 

“You’re putting a lot of weight on your own shoulders.” Nakoa gives her a pointed look. “You shouldn’t have to do everything on your own. Don’t forget that you have friends who are willing to help if you ask.” She reaches across the table to poke Aloy in the chest, earning a laugh. “We may not know as much as this smartass right here but we can learn.” 

Unable to stop smiling, Aloy swats Nakoa’s hand away. “Thanks you guys. I appreciate it.” 

They pass the rest of the evening with comfortable small talk and plans to stay at the fort one more day so Teb can finish his sewing with time to spare. The day after may see them parting ways again but for now Aloy will enjoy the company of friends free from worries about the future.


End file.
